Mardi Gras Indians

"The Mardi Gras Indians are some of the most anticipated figures during Carnival season in New Orleans. Their parades on Mardi Gras day, Super Sunday, and St. Joseph's night are heavily attended as people crowd the streets of uptown and downtown, Central City, and local parks where the Indians are known to pass by, battle through dance, and compete like strutting peacocks for the title of 'prettiest.' Mardi Gras Indians explores how Mardi Gras or carnival season throughout the African diaspora came together in a gumbo-sized melting pot to birth one of the most unique traditions celebrating African culture, Indigenous peoples, and Black Americans. Williams ties together the fragments of the ancient traditions with the expressed experiences of the contemporary. From the sangamentos of the Kongolese and the calumets of the various tribes of the Lower Mississippi River Valley to one-on-one interviews with today's Black masking tribe members, this book highlights the spirit of resistance and rebellion that this culture was built upon. Much ink has been spilled about the history of the Mardi Gras Indians and the arduous tasks of making their suits. This book traces the Indian tradition from its nebulous and nascent beginnings to its secretive and codified practices of today, highlighting the voices of those who mask as they speak loudly and clearly about what they want people to know about the often-misunderstood culture they love. Big Chiefs Romeo Bougere, Bo Dollis Jr., and Keelian Boyd, along with Queens Cherice Harrison Nelson, Shawmika Edwards Boyd and a myriad of other Indians - living and ancestors alike - peel the mystique back on everything from their initiation into the culture, to how masking has or has not affected their family, finances, and even how they interact with people at their jobs. Tracking from the eighteenth century to present day, this in-depth look at the lives of the famed Mardi Gras Indians explores the culture that began in slavery, sprouted through segregation, and continued on as familial and neighborhood tradition to create iconic imagery, and extreme sentimentality among New Orleanians, Black Americans, and Mardi Gras lovers the world over"--