Jackson Whites

(Background articles can be found here and here. Probably also in Weird NJ somewhere.)

The Jackson Whites is the informal name for the Ramapough Mountain People. They are a group of people who have remained largely unassimilated since the 1800s, and are mixed white, black, and Native American descent - more noteworthy in the 1800s than it is today. They have lived, and continue to live, in less developed areas in northern Passaic county and southern New York State, in the Ramapo Mountains. Read the articles if you want a real history on them. The first article contains a number of pictures of them, but they are probably most noteworthy for a strange orangey color to their skin.

Back in the 1980s, they tried to get a gaming license but their status as "Native American" was challenged by a group of people, led by Donald Trump (for obvious reasons - many people go to A.C. from the NYC area and give Mr. Trump a lot of money!) and were ultimately denied. If it hadn't been, many people wouldn't have so far to drive to gamble! When I was up in North Jersey in July, out of curiousity we took a ride up to Ringwood to a less developed area where they live, and indeed many of the Jackson White people were there, staring at us (for being gawking intruders, presumably).

Many people who grew up in Bergen County have heard of the Jackson Whites. I hadn't heard of them until recently. There are occasional news stories involving members of the tribe. I was just surprised that I hadn't heard of them before. I felt compelled to blog post to see if any of my loyal readers has ever heard of them before.