This month, we honor the Native peoples who have always walked these lands, whose presence predates borders, names, and nations. Before Louisiana was a state, it was Bulbancha, "place of many tongues," a meeting ground of cultures, languages, and nations. The waters, marshes, and oak groves remember this truth, holding the stories of the United Houma Nation, Chitimacha, Coushatta, Tunica-Biloxi, and others who have always lived with this land, not apart from it.
We are not relics of history. We are not myths or symbols for others to claim. We are here; living, breathing, creating, reclaiming. We are the keepers of languages, ceremonies, and kinship systems that refuse to die, even in the face of centuries of attempts to erase us. Against displacement, violence, and denial, we remain.
The story of Native peoples in Louisiana is deeply complex and deeply painful. For generations, our ancestors navigated shifting governmental systems, colonial expansion, and the imposition of treaties designed to diminish our sovereignty. These treaties, often signed under duress or deceit, were tools of theft. Lands that sustained us for thousands of years were stripped away, and with them, the stability of our communities. Removal policies tore families apart, scattering us far from the homes that shaped our identities. Yet the land, the bayous, the rivers, the air, never forgot us. And we never forgot it.
Our lives today remain entangled in the legacies of those broken treaties and removals. Federal recognition, a process that defines legitimacy on terms set by the same systems that dispossessed us, still determines which tribes are "seen" and which are rendered invisible. The tribes who live here, who have lived here since time immemorial, must constantly fight for acknowledgment of what we have always known: that we are sovereign, that we are whole.
To speak of us only in the past tense is to misunderstand who we are. Our stories do not end with removal or colonization. We are here: teaching, innovating, healing. We are protecting what is sacred and cultivating what has been passed to us, even as we fight against systems that try to separate us from our cultures, our lands, and each other.
This month is time to engage deeply with the fullness of our lives. It is a time to understand the ways our histories are bound up in yours and to take seriously the work of undoing the harm of erasure. To truly honor Native peoples is to see us as we are: sovereign nations, creative forces, and contributors to a world still worth saving.
We’ve provided a list of resources below for you to watch, listen, read, and learn. Let this be a beginning, not an end, to your education.
Honor the land, and honor us. We are still here.
FEDERALLY AND STATE-RECOGNIZED TRIBES IN LOUISIANA
FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED TRIBES
STATE RECOGNIZED TRIBES
- Clifton Choctaw Tribe of Louisiana
TRIBAL RECOGNITION:
Tribal recognition is a critical issue for Native communities, shaping their sovereignty, cultural preservation, and access to resources. In the United States, tribes may be recognized at either the federal or state level, with significant differences in the rights and benefits afforded under each status. While federal recognition establishes a formal government-to-government relationship and provides access to crucial programs and protections, state recognition often lacks the same legal and financial support.
This disparity underscores the importance of understanding the complexities of tribal recognition and its impact on Native communities. Moreover, the history of tribal erasure, through policies like federal termination and forced disbandment, has compounded the challenges faced by Native peoples, stripping many tribes of their sovereignty, cultural identity, and visibility.
LISTEN:
- "You're Welcome, America!" : “You’re Welcome, America!” is a digital series that features quick, punchy, and unpolished lessons about Black folks and Natives. Hosted by comedians Adrianne Chalepah (Kiowa/Apache) and Joyelle Nicole Johnson, “You’re Welcome, America!” clarifies some of the gravest misunderstandings about Native and Black people in America today, highlights mutual community struggles, and has a joyful time.
- 'Poet Warrior' Joy Harjo Wants Native Peoples To Be Seen As Human: On this episode of NPR's Fresh Air podcast, Joy Harjo, the nation's first Native American poet laureate, has a very clear sense of what she wants to accomplish with her writing.
- AMERICAN GENOCIDE PODCAST: As the US government searches for mass graves linked to Catholic Indian boarding schools, an investigator and an activist – both Native American – examine every twist and turn in this true crime story about the troubling legacy of Red Cloud Indian School and the rift it has caused within the Pine Ridge Indian reservation.
LEARN:
- GOOD RELATIVES: Good Relatives is a groundbreaking campaign that explores and highlights Native identity in the 21st century by amplifying how contemporary Native peoples are part of every community. The campaign will spark new conversations and understanding around Native identity, while building new points of connection, understanding, and community with allies.
- What Indigenous Lands Are You On? : Native Land Digital provides a powerful platform to spark conversations about colonial history, Indigenous knowledge systems, and the complex relationships between settlers and Indigenous communities. Through tools like their interactive map and the Territory Acknowledgement Guide, they aim to shift narratives and foster understanding. By centering Indigenous voices and empowering communities to share their histories in their own words, Native Land Digital challenges outdated perspectives and invites everyone to learn, reflect, and engage. Their work encourages non-Indigenous people to explore the histories of the lands they live on and to actively contribute to a more inclusive and equitable future.
- IllumiNative : IllumiNative is a Native woman-led racial and social justice organization dedicated to increasing the visibility of—and challenging the narrative about—Native peoples. Accurate information, authentic representation, and narrative disruption are essential to ending racism, bias, and discrimination against Native peoples. IllumiNative provides a library of tools and resources that will enable you to join the movements of movements working to amplify a new narrative about Native peoples in media, pop culture, K-12 education and other critical sectors.
- Native Hope: Native Hope is an organization that exists to address the injustice done to Native Americans. They dismantle barriers through storytelling and impactful programs to bring healing and inspire hope. This is a special project, Reflecting On Our Foundations: Native American History, Life and Culture.
WATCH:
- SETTING THE TABLE : “Setting the Table”, a short film by Kyle Bell (Thlopthlocco Tribal Town), speaks to the resiliency of Native peoples in overcoming cultural erasure and the power we have to break the cycle.
- Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana: Preserving Identity: The Coushatta Tribe of Elton, LA are one of four federally recognized Native American tribes in the state. We explore the work they have been doing to preserve their language, heritage and traditions.
- Wounded Knee '73 | American Indian Movement: In the middle of the civil rights movement emerged the American Indian Movement. The AIM addresed systemic issues of poverty, discrimination and police brutality against Native Americans. In 1973 around 200 Native Americans from all over the country gathered at Wounded Knee, a small town on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota.
- 1989 - American Indian Activist Russell Means testifies at Senate Hearing: From the C-SPAN Video Library - Mr. Means harshly criticizes the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian leadership of reservations. Russell Means died October 22 at the age of 72. This was his first of six appearances on C-SPAN.
- John Trudell on Becoming Human : John Trudell was a Native American author, poet, actor, musician, and political activist. He was the spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz. During most of the 1970s, he served as the chairman of the American Indian Movement, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After his pregnant wife, three children and mother-in-law were killed in 1979 in a suspicious fire at the home of his parents-in-law on the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes Duck Valley Indian Reservation in Nevada, Trudell turned to writing, music and film as a second career. He acted in films in the 1990s. The documentary Trudell (2005) was made about him and his life as an activist and artist.
- Native Cinema Showcase : The National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Cinema Showcase is an annual celebration of the best in Native film. All films on demand during November 22 - 29, 2024.