The political, racial and cultural beauty of the Mardi Gras Indians
Deep within the history of America lies a story of unity and perseverance
By: Wendy Carrillo
While the U.S. commemorates “Black History Month” during the month of February, a long forgotten history from New Orleans comes to mind.
Prior to the arrival of African slaves to the American colonies, Native Americans were traded and sold into slavery as a common practice in the South under what was then Spanish and French rule.
In the mid-1740s, African male slaves brought to Louisiana mixed with Native slave women, creating a new mix of “red-black people” or “mustees.” In New Orleans, “Congo Square,” located in what is now Louis Armstrong Park in the Tremé, was a place of music and culture in which African and Native slaves were allowed to celebrate and dress in Native regalia.
As slaves began to flee plantations at the turn of the century, many were taking in by free Native American tribes in the surrounding area and given shelter.
In the late 1860s, after the Louisiana Purchase and Civil War, free slaves in the U.S. Army 10th Cavalry Regiment, commonly known as the “Buffalo Soldiers,” fought against what was then the American enemy — Native people — in the American-Indian Wars. A previous history of shared identity against oppression was lost under the chaos of war and American expansion.
In recent history, Jim Crow laws ensured that any type of story or tradition of the past, stayed segregated and within the black communities in the south for many generations. The Mardi Gras Indians of today shatter that secrecy and in doing so, shed light on the mixed heritage of African and Native people.
Amidst the visibly colorful quest for “the prettiest” design, beads and festivities created as homage to the past or a celebration of tradition, lies a story deeply embedded in the heart of American history and rooted in community, unity and perseverance.
It is “the prettiest” of all stories.
Big Chief Byron Thomas of the Black Mohawk Mardi Gras Indians and his Queen mask on February 17, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Joseph Boudreaux, 2nd Chief of the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians, masks on February 17, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Big Chief Spoon of the Buffalo Hunters Mardi Gras Indians masks on February 17, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
A member of the Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indian tribe performs at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Sunday, May 8, 2011.
Alex Harris, 6, of the Cheyenne Mardi Gras Indian tribe marches in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans on February 24, 2009.
Christara Warner, 9, of the Cheyenne Mardi Gras Indian tribe adjusts her crown before marching in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans on February 24, 2009.
Mardi Gras Indian Chief Walter Cook marches in a Jazz funeral parade to commemorate the one-year anniversary of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, August 29, 2006.
