Although many specialized studies have been written about Louisiana's Indian tribes, no complete account has appeared regarding their long, varied history. The Historic Indian Tribes of Louisiana: From 1542 to the Present is a highly informative study that reconstructs the history and cultural evolution of these people. This study identifies tribal groups, charts their migrations within the state, and discusses their languages and customs. According to the authors, the first descriptions of Louisiana Indians are contained in accounts kept by members of Hernando de Soto's expedition In the 1540s. The next recorders of Indian life were the French in the 1700s. European influences irrevocably marked the Indians' lives. The natives lost tribal lands to the new settlers and replaced many of their weapons and tools with those of the Europeans. Diseases apparently introduced by the Spaniards decimated entire tribes and caused the disappearance of certain tribal languages that had never been recorded. However, much of Indian material culture has survived even to the present, including the dugout canoe, or pirogue, and the beautiful cane basketry of the Chitimacha tribe.According to the authors, current figures show that Louisiana has the third largest native American population in the eastern United States. Several of Louisiana's present-day Indian tribes, such as the Tunica-Biloxi, Choctaw, and Koasati, entered the state in the second half of the eighteenth century. They gradually established settlements throughout the state, at times displacing the native tribes. Today, many of Louisiana's Indians work in business and industry and as farmers and loggers.The Historic Indian Tribes of Louisiana is a valuable contribution to the literature on Louisiana History. It will be of interest to anthropologists, geographers, historians, and anyone wanting to know more about these important members of Louisiana's population.

The history of Louisiana Indians including Atakapa, Opelousa, Pacana, Caddo, Tunica, Koroa, Yazoo, Taensa, Avoyel, Muskogeans, Houma, Bayougoula, Acolapissa, Tangipahoa, Quinapisa, Mugulasha, Okelousa, Chitimacha, Washa, Chawasha, Choctaw, Taensa, Natchez, Chickasaw, Talapoosa, Biloxi, Pascagoula, Apalachee, Koasati, Alabama, Apache, Yatasi, and Chawasha tribes.

Although many specialized studies have been written about Louisiana's Indian tribes, no complete account has appeared regarding their long, varied history. The Historic Indian Tribes of Louisiana: From 1542 to the Present is a highly informative study that reconstructs the history and cultural evolution of these people. This study identifies tribal groups, charts their migrations within the state, and discusses their languages and customs. According to the authors, the first descriptions of Louisiana Indians are contained in accounts kept by members of Hernando de Soto's expedition In the 1540s.

From a peace ceremony conducted by Chitimacha diplomats before Governor Bienville’s makeshift cabin in 1718 to a stickball match played by Choctaw teams in 1897 in Athletic Park, American Indians greatly influenced the history and culture of the Crescent City during its first two hundred years. In American Indians in Early New Orleans, Daniel H. Usner lays to rest assumptions that American Indian communities vanished long ago from urban south Louisiana and recovers the experiences of Native Americans in Old New Orleans from their perspective. Centuries before the arrival of Europeans, American Indians controlled the narrow strip of land between the Mississippi River and present-day Lake Pontchartrain to transport goods, harvest resources, and perform rituals. The birth and growth of colonial New Orleans depended upon the materials and services provided by Native inhabitants as liaisons, traders, soldiers, and even slaves. Despite losing much of their homeland and political power after the Louisiana Purchase, Lower Mississippi Valley Indians refused to retreat from New Orleans’s streets and markets; throughout the 1800s, Choctaw and other nearby communities improvised ways of expressing their cultural autonomy and economic interests—as peddlers, laborers, and performers—in the face of prejudice and hostility from non-Indian residents. Numerous other American Indian tribes, forcibly removed from the southeastern United States, underwent a painful passage through the city before being transported farther up the Mississippi River. At the dawn of the twentieth century, a few Indian communities on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain continued to maintain their creative relationship with New Orleans by regularly vending crafts and plants in the French Market. In this groundbreaking narrative, Usner explores the array of ways that Native people used this river port city, from its founding to the World War I era, and demonstrates their crucial role in New Orleans’s history.

Surveys the various groups of Indians, past and present, who occupied Louisiana, describing their history, customs, etc.

“The Southeastern Indian people found their voices in this work. They are alive and well—still on their land!”—Hiram F. Gregory, coauthor of The Historic Indian Tribes of Louisiana: From 1542 to the Present “This collection fills a major void in our understanding of recent southern history by offering a wide-ranging selection of southern Indians a chance to speak for themselves, unfiltered, as they strike at the heart of identity: Indian identity, southern identity, and, ultimately, American identity.”—Greg O’Brien, editor of Pre-removal Choctaw History: Exploring New Paths The history of Native Americans in the U.S. South is a turbulent one, rife with conflict and inequality. Since the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in the fifteenth century, Native peoples have struggled to maintain their land, cultures, and ways of life. In We Will Always Be Here, contemporary tribal leaders, educators, and activists speak about their own experiences fighting for Indian identity, self-determination, cultural survival, and community development. This valuable collection portrays the lives of today’s Southern Indians in their own words. Reflecting on such issues as poverty, education, racism, cultural preservation, and tribal sovereignty, the contributors to this volume offer a glimpse into the historical struggles of southern Native peoples, examine their present-day efforts, and share their hopes for the future. They also share examples of cultural practices that have either endured or been revitalized. In a country that still faces challenges to civil rights and misconceptions about Indian identity and tribal sovereignty, this timely book builds a deeper understanding of modern Native peoples within a region where they are often overlooked. Contributors: Nanette Sconiers Pupalaikis | Stan Cartwright | Patricia Easterwood| Wanda Light Tully| Framon Weaver| Nancy Wright Carnley| Otha Martin| Marie Martin| Pauline Martin| Nathan Martin| Karla Martin| Kaci Martin| Marvin T. Jones| Shoshone Peguese-Elmardi| Lars Adams| Doug Patterson| Kenneth Adams| Hodalee Scott Sewell| Tony Mack McClure| Cedric Sunray| Brooke Bauer| Donna Pierite| Jean-Luc Pierite| Elisabeth Pierite-Mora| Harold Comby| Tom Hendrix| Michael "T. Mayheart" Dardar| Marcus Briggs-Cloud| Marvin "Marty" Richardson| Dana Chapman Masters| Robert Jumper| Robert Caldwell| Megan Young| Jessica Osceola| Ernest Sickey| Jeanette Alcon| Charles “Chuckie” Verdin| Phyliss J. Anderson| David Sickey| Stephanie Bryan| Malinda Maynor Lowery| Ahli-sha Stephens| Elliott Nichols