Mardi Gras Indians

The history of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras Indians is rooted in acts of rebellion from enslaved and indigenous people. In the 1700s, enslaved African Americans in New Orleans were allowed to dance and sing in the public square on Sundays. They often interacted with Native American tribes who came to the area to sell goods and perform ritual dances. This interaction allowed enslaved African Americans and Native Americans to share parts of their respective cultures with one another. In search of freedom, many enslaved African Americans escaped to join Native American tribes in the Louisiana Bayou (1). Mardi Gras Indian traditions emerged as a way for African Americans to honor the Native American tribes that protected escaped slaves. 

Mardi Gras Indians express strength and resistance through song, dance, and dress. This tradition serves as a way for black communities to stand up against the racial injustices they have faced. Mardi Gras Indian crews sing songs that their enslaved ancestors passed down through generations. Mardi Gras Indian dance is a blend of Native American ritual dance and traditional African dance. Mardi Gras Indians dress in ornate, feathered outfits that often take months to create. The tradition of wearing these outfits, often referred to as “masking”, has historically ties to African Americans in New Orleans having to “mask” as Native Americans in order to escape enslavement (2). 

Despite rejection from much of New Orleans’ white community, Mardi Gras Indians kept their traditions alive through the Civil War, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights movement, asserting their values of freedom and equality. Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans’ black communities, left seventy percent of Mardi Gras Indians displaced. Still, the Mardi Gras Indians persevered. New Orleans resident Barbara Duhe spoke of the future of Mardi Gras Indian traditions in the wake of Katrina saying, “You can’t get rid of that kind of spirit, only if you got rid of all the people, and that’s not likely. It may be on a smaller scale right now, but it’s going to stay here. It is here” (3). 

A closer look at a Mardi Gras Indians tribe:

Like the city of New Orleans itself, Mardi Gras Indian traditions are built upon a range of cultures. This tradition is a way for the African American community of New Orleans to reclaim their history and honor their ancestors. Mardi Gras Indians are a unique aspect of a celebration that has been a part of New Orleans culture since the city’s conception in the early 1700s. 

1. Ehrenreich, Jeffrey David. “Mardi Gras Indians.” In Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, edited by Patrick L. Mason. 2nd ed. Gale, 2013. http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galerace/mardi_gras_indians/0?institutionId=1724 
2. Guthrie, R. (2016). Embodying an Imagined other through Rebellion, Resistance and Joy: Mardi Gras Indians and Black indigeneity. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 12(5), 558–573.
3. Interview with Barbara Duhe by Elizabeth Shelborne, May 25, 2006 U-0230 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
4. “Black Feather Mardi Gras Indians.” Insight, 3 Aug. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhVj0I64qY8.