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217-627: Mardi Gras Indians (also known as Black Masking Indians ) are African American carnival revelers in New Orleans, Louisiana , who dress up for Mardi Gras in suits influenced by the cultural practices of Native Americans, West Africans , and Afro-Caribbeans . The music, dance, and regalia from these cultures created the Mardi Gras Indian tradition during the era of slavery in Louisiana that continues today. This cultural tradition

434-455: A tomahawk , bows and arrows, spears, red candles and cloth, and pictures of Native Americans on horseback. In one spiritual church a three-foot-high Indian statue is decorated with a Mardi Gras Indian headdress and bead patches. Some participates believe the mediums of the church become possessed by the spirits of Indians. One church minister dressed as a Mardi Gras Indian to summon the spirits of Black Hawk and Reverend Adams that resulted in

651-423: A " séance " of ancestors and deceased friends. Black Hawk symbolizes protest and empowerment for the majority of women in the churches that experience racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. This tradition continued into the late 20th century. In the 1980s, James Anderson wore the suit of deceased tribal member Big Chief Jolley to a Black Hawk ceremony at Infant Jesus of Prague Spiritual Church. In addition,

868-479: A "unique cultural expression of costume masquerade performance." In addition to Mardi Gras Day , many of the "tribes" also parade on Saint Joseph's Day (March 19) and the Sunday nearest to Saint Joseph's Day ("Super Sunday"). Traditionally, these were the only times Mardi Gras Indians were seen in public in full regalia. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival began the practice of hiring "tribes" to appear at

1085-585: A 14-year-old boy from Chicago. Spending the summer with relatives in Money, Mississippi , Till was killed for allegedly having wolf-whistled at a White woman. Till had been badly beaten, one of his eyes was gouged out, and he was shot in the head. The visceral response to his mother's decision to have an open-casket funeral mobilized the Black community throughout the US. Vann R. Newkirk wrote "the trial of his killers became

1302-774: A Black cultural expression through decorative art utilizing symbols that show a shared history with Louisiana's Native American community. During slavery, Louisiana's Indigenous community harbored freedom seekers in their villages; Black Mardi Gras Indians are telling this story visually through their regalia. According to author Sascha Just, Mardi Gras Indians mask as Indigenous people to embody Native American heroism displayed in their suits and performances to celebrate their heritage of resistance to enslavement and oppression when they allied with American Indians in New Orleans' swamps and bayous, and to show respect for Native Americans who assisted freedom seekers escape from slavery. During

1519-417: A Mardi Gras Indian suit. Uptown New Orleans "tribes" tend to have more pictorial and African-inspired suits; downtown "tribes" have more 3D suits with heavy Native American influences. African American African Americans , also known as Black Americans , formerly also called Afro-Americans , are an American racial or ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from any of

1736-553: A Spiritual church in New Orleans by Mother Catherine Seals in the early to mid-twentieth century. Communal festivals were also part of Mississippi River Voodoo. A common gathering in Louisiana Voodoo was on the night of the 23 or 24 June, St John's Eve , with big celebrations on this date has taken place on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain during the 19th century. Some 21st-century Voodoo congregations continue to celebrate on St John's Eve; others, such as Osbey, reject

1953-520: A Voodoo dance ceremony in Marais Street. Repression of Voodoo intensified following the Civil War; the 1870s onward saw white writers display an increased concern that Voodoo rituals were facilitating the interaction between black men and white women. That decade saw large gatherings at Lake Pontchartrain on St John's Eve, including many onlookers and reporters; these declined after 1876. In

2170-544: A Voodoo revival took place, the practitioners of which often drew heavily on other African diasporic religions such as Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santería . Although originating among African diasporic communities in New Orleans, Louisiana Voodoo has included white participants since at least the 19th century, and some contemporary Voodoo groups have a majority-white membership. The religion has long faced opposition from non-practitioners, who have characterized it as witchcraft and devil-worship, and many sensationalist portrayals of

2387-470: A Voodoo ritual, all identifiable by the song being sung: preparation, invocation, possession, and farewell. The songs are used to open the gate between the deities and the human world and invite the spirits to possess someone. The rituals of Louisiana Voodoo are based on African traditions that have absorbed various Christian, and especially Roman Catholic, influences. Reflecting this Roman Catholic influence, some recorded ceremonies have for instance begun with

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2604-472: A White American mother and a Kenyan father— defeated Republican Senator John McCain to become the first African American to be elected president. At least 95 percent of African American voters voted for Obama. He also received overwhelming support from young and educated Whites, a majority of Asians , and Hispanics , picking up a number of new states in the Democratic electoral column. Obama lost

2821-404: A circle swirling the chickens in his hand, and killed them by taking off their heads, and Hurston continued to beat the ground with a stick in order to produce a rhythmic sound in sync with Turner's dancing. Where the ritual took place Four Thieves Vinegar was poured onto the ground. In some African American Spiritual churches , the sacrifice of live chickens to heal church members was practiced in

3038-483: A client who wanted her brother in-law to leave her alone. Turner sat at his snake altar and meditated on his clients situation, and afterwards told Hurston to purchase nine black chickens and some Four Thieves Vinegar . Turner and Hurston performed a ritual including the nine black chickens and Four Thieves Vinegar at night to ask the spirits and the spirits of the chickens sacrificed for his clients brother in-law to stop bothering her. The ritual included Turner dancing in

3255-557: A crucial role in producing the country's most valuable product and export: cotton . Enslaved people were instrumental in the construction of several prominent structures such as, the United States Capitol , the White House and other Washington, D.C.-based buildings. ) Similar building projects existed in the slave states . By 1815, the domestic slave trade had become a significant and major economic activity in

3472-487: A diversity of coded dialects sung by Black masking Indians. Scholars Fehintola Mosadomi and Joyce M. Jackson noted similar ceremonial practices of the Egungun and Mardi Gras Indians; both are performed in the streets with music and folk rituals, have elaborate colorful costumes, and are male-dominated. Author Raphael Njoku explains Africans in the diaspora use masquerade carnivals to protest oppression. "While masquerading

3689-595: A dozen to several dozen members. Groups are largely independent, but a pair of umbrella organizations loosely coordinates the Uptown Indians and the Downtown Indians. Their suits are displayed in museums in Louisiana and the Smithsonian . The complex artistry designed on suits is only found in the Mardi Gras Indian art community in New Orleans. Author Marjorie Cohee Manifold explains the tradition as

3906-668: A federal crime to aid or assist those who had fled slavery or to interfere with their capture. By that time, slavery, which almost exclusively targeted Black people, had become the most critical and contentious political issue in the Antebellum United States , repeatedly sparking crises and conflicts. Among these were the Missouri Compromise , the Compromise of 1850 , the infamous Dred Scott decision , and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry . Prior to

4123-494: A fully developed African-derived religion with its own deities and priests. They thus often regarded Voodoo as an exotic and primitive superstition. The Anglo-American influx also brought new influences to Voodoo as well as increased attention, including a surge in 19th and early 20th-century newspaper coverage. The start of the 19th centuries also saw the Haitian Revolution , whereby African-descended populations in

4340-549: A group formed to promote relations between the countries. After riots against Blacks in Cincinnati , its Black community sponsored founding of the Wilberforce Colony , an initially successful settlement of African American immigrants to Canada. The colony was one of the first such independent political entities. It lasted for a number of decades and provided a destination for about 200 Black families emigrating from

4557-539: A historian at the University of Chicago, found that Native and mixed-race people of Black and Native heritage constituted 20 percent of the state’s enslaved population during the antebellum period." Indigenous peoples of Louisiana helped to free some of the Africans from slavery and hid them in their villages and taught them how to survive off the land where the freedom seekers lived in maroon camps. New Orleans

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4774-524: A mask on, you’re not a person any more. You become the energy or entity of what it is you’re masking." Some scholars define Mardi Gras Indian culture as a spiritual secret society, a mutual-aid organization, and a social club. Before a Mardi Gras Indian observance begins a prayer or chant is said in Louisiana Creole . The song Madi cu defio, en dans day is sung; it is a corruption of a Louisiana Voodoo Creole song, M'alle couri dans deser , that

4991-466: A misunderstanding of the nkisi nkondi of Bakongo religion. Healing plays a prominent role in 21st century Louisiana Voodoo. Various shops, called botanicas, exist in New Orleans to sell herbs and other material for use in these preparations. Glassman has produced her own New Orleans Voodoo Tarot , a tarot card set for use in divination. Animal sacrifice is a traditional practice in Africa. It

5208-676: A number of locations in the United States. In 1863, during the American Civil War , President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation . The proclamation declared that all slaves in Confederate-held territory were free. Advancing Union troops enforced the proclamation, with Texas being the last state to be emancipated, in 1865. Slavery in a few border states continued until

5425-499: A pageant illuminating the tyranny of White supremacy ". The state of Mississippi tried two defendants, but they were speedily acquitted by an all-White jury . One hundred days after Emmett Till's murder, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Alabama—indeed, Parks told Emmett's mother Mamie Till that "the photograph of Emmett's disfigured face in the casket was set in her mind when she refused to give up her seat on

5642-462: A part of the Black Arts tradition. Mardi Gras Indian suits cost thousands of dollars in materials alone and can weigh upwards of one hundred pounds (45 kg). A suit usually takes between six and nine months to plan and complete. Mardi Gras Indians design and create their own suits; elaborate bead patches depict meaningful and symbolic scenes. Beads, feathers, and sequins are integral parts of

5859-659: A port in Dahomey on the Bight of Benin . The largest group came from Senegambia . These ethnic groups influenced the culture of Louisiana in food, music, language, religion , and decorative aesthetics. French slaveholders allowed enslaved and free Black people to congregate on Sunday afternoons at Congo Square where they performed music and religious practices. New Orleans is known for its Creole heritage, with traditions coming from Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans. A mixed-race population of free people of color contributed to

6076-748: A process known as White flight . Despite discrimination, drawing cards for leaving the hopelessness in the South were the growth of African American institutions and communities in Northern cities. Institutions included Black oriented organizations (e.g., Urban League , NAACP ), churches, businesses, and newspapers, as well as successes in the development in African American intellectual culture, music, and popular culture (e.g., Harlem Renaissance , Chicago Black Renaissance ). The Cotton Club in Harlem

6293-498: A range of laws regulating when and where black people could gather. Practiced secretly, it spread up the Mississippi River to Missouri . During the 19th century, practitioners such as Marie Laveau , attracted considerable attention. By the early 20th century, the public practice of Voodoo had heavily declined. After the 1960s, the New Orleans tourist industry increasingly used references to Voodoo to attract visitors, while

6510-741: A relatively high amount of influence, particularly those who were spiritual leaders. Among the fifteen "voodoo queens" in neighborhoods scattered around 19th-century New Orleans, Marie Laveau was known as "the Voodoo Queen", the most eminent and powerful of them all. Her religious rite on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain on St. John's Eve in 1874 attracted some 12,000 black and white New Orleanians. Although her help seemed non-discriminatory, she may have favored enslaved servants: Her most "influential, affluent customers...runaway slaves...credited their successful escapes to Laveau's powerful charms". Both her mother and grandmother had practiced Voodoo; she

6727-556: A rootworker sacrificed a chicken to leave a blood offering to the spirits to remove a spiritual work (spell). An African American man in North Carolina sacrificed a chicken at a crossroads "asking salvation from an epidemic" from a disease that killed off his farm animals. Zora Neale Hurston recorded in her book Mules and Men an animal sacrifice of nine black chickens in the twentieth century. A Hoodoo man named Turner in New Orleans, Louisiana performed an animal sacrifice for

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6944-652: A shared interest masking Indians and church members have with the history of Native American resistance and spirit possession. Some congregations in Spiritual churches incorporate Mardi Gras Indian traditions into their services and believe they can conjure the spirits of Native American resistance leaders such as Black Hawk , White Eagle, Red Cloud , and White Hawk. Altars to Native American spirits, Catholic saints, ancestors, Archangel Michael , and other spirits are placed inside Spiritual churches for spirit communication and conjuration of spirits. American Indian altars include

7161-571: A slave cabin. West-Central African people were illegally imported into Florida after 1814 by plantation owner Kingsley. The African people imported were Angolan, Igbo , Senegambian and from Zanzibar . The spiritual cultures of these enslaved Africans fused into one Voodoo culture on the plantation. Archeologists found inside a slave cabin in the northeast section an intact sacrificed chicken and other charms (blue beads and red clay brick) for rituals to conjure spirits for protection. In 1883 in Alabama,

7378-471: A slave rebellion, in 1817 the Municipal issued an ordinance preventing slaves from dancing on days other than on Sundays and in locations other than those specifically designated for that purpose. The main location permitted was New Orleans' Congo Square . Voodoo dance rituals nevertheless continued clandestinely at other locations. In the early part of the 19th century, newspapers articles began denouncing

7595-425: A small cash payment called "freedom dues". Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom. They raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or European settlers . By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown , and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640,

7812-420: A specific sacred text, and has no unifying organized structure or hierarchy. Practitioners will often adapt Voodoo to suit their specific requirements, in doing so often mixing it with other religious traditions. Throughout its history, many Voodoo practitioners have also practiced Roman Catholicism. While in the 21st century, Voodoo practitioners have for instance combined Voodoo with elements of Judaism and

8029-766: A story about their ancestors escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad. An article from the New Yorker explains how a "tribe" of Mardi Gras Indians called, Young Seminole Hunters, sculpt elaborate suits to honor the roles the Seminole people and other Native American nations had on the Underground Railroad in liberating enslaved Black people. Mardi Gras Indians are informing the public about Black history through their regalia, music, and songs. Pan-American carnival cultural celebrations in

8246-545: A unifying time-line, melisma, the encouragement of spontaneity, and the extremely porous boundary between performers and audiences." During the Haitian Revolution , French slaveholders fled the island of Haiti and brought their slaves to New Orleans. Enslaved Haitians influenced the culture of enslaved Black Americans in New Orleans that also contributed to the carnival culture of Mardi Gras Indians. In 1809, nearly 10,000 people, free and enslaved, from present-day Dominican Republic immigrated to New Orleans. The Dominican Republic

8463-537: A victim's doorstep. To counter these hexes, some people cleaned their doorstep or sprinkled it with powdered brick. Despite its name, the idea of the Voodoo doll has little to do with either Louisiana Voodoo or Haitian Vodou; it derives from the European tradition of poppets . It is possible that the act of inserting pins into a human-shaped doll to cause harm was erroneously linked to African-derived traditions due to

8680-414: A voice. Masking Indian is a rite of passage for Black men and provides manhood and comrade training. Women's role in the tradition is embellishment. Harrison-Nelson continues, "If the chief is pretty, he's prettier with a queen standing next to him." Authors Shane Lief and John McCusker noted that imagery of Native Americans was placed on costumes and used in parades in New Orleans since the 18th century. In

8897-423: A year, compared with 41 percent in 1960. In 1965, 19 percent of Black Americans had incomes equal to the national median, a proportion that rose to 27 percent by 1967. In 1960, the median level of education for Blacks had been 10.8 years, and by the late 1960s, the figure rose to 12.2 years, half a year behind the median for Whites. Politically and economically, African Americans have made substantial strides during

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9114-483: Is hoodoo , which may originally have been largely synonymous with Voodoo . Over time, hoodoo came to describe "the brand of African American supernaturalism found along the Mississippi", entailing the use of charms and spells that made little reference to deities; in this it differs from the specific religion characterized by the term Voodoo . Louisiana Voodoo is a secretive religion; in 1972, for instance,

9331-432: Is "to enter the spirit world of possession ". During jazz funerals, spirits control the bodies of the dancers so the spirit of the deceased can transition peacefully. Dancing during Mardi Gras results in spirit possession by ancestors, can animate their masks, and is a symbol of freedom. Mardi Gras Indian Albert Lambreaux's identity transforms to "Big Chief" when he wears his suit. As "Big Chief" he becomes an authority in

9548-549: Is African with influences from European musical instruments. Mardi Gras Indians' culture is reflecting the culture of the Black diaspora . Similar funeral processions are scene in West African, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Brazilian communities. Black masking Indians' street performances and festivals are called " second lines ". The Haitian influences in second line street theater are the sequins, beads, and feathers that are sewn into

9765-500: Is a part of the African and African diaspora decorative aesthetic, and is an African-American art form. Black masking Indians are a subculture in New Orleans. Participants call their krewes "tribes" (another name used are "gangs" for Indian tribes in similar attire) which should not be confused with actual Native American tribes . As Mardi Gras New Orleans states, "Their 'tribes' are named for imaginary Indian tribes according to

9982-494: Is a spiritual transformation for the wearer who becomes connected to ancestral spirits and receives spiritual messages to relay to the public. They become an authority figure guided by spirit. Mardi Gras Indians say that when they mask they become possessed by spirits and are guided by them using ritual prayers. For some Black masking Indians, "successful" masking experiences "include a sensation of being possessed". Masking Indian Chief Zulu says: "It’s an African tradition. Once you put

10199-569: Is also associated with Calinda dance. During the slave trade period, the Calinda dance was brought to New Orleans by enslaved people from San Domingo and the Antilles . Calinda (also Kalinda) is a folk dance and music which arose in the Caribbean in the 1720s that originated in African martial arts. In Haiti and Trinidad it was a form of stick fighting and was performed during carnivals by

10416-428: Is an expression of Black resistance to white supremacist environment". Black masking traditions in New Orleans are a combination of Caribbean and African folk art that was sustained by African Americans despite colonialism, slavery, Black Codes , and racism. Author Nikesha Williams explains that for Black people, Mardi Gras is a cultural and a spiritual experience. Over the years this tradition incorporated elements from

10633-554: Is believed the first Mardi Gras Indian gang was formed; the "tribe" was named "The Creole Wild West" and was most likely composed of members of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. However, the "Indian gangs" might predate their appearance in the city. A source from 1849 refers to Black performers on Congo Square fully covered in "the plumes of the peacock." Author Michael Smith suggests that Black Americans who attended Wild West shows and saw performers in Plains Indian attire influenced

10850-568: Is considered to be the oldest Black neighborhood in America and during post-Katrina continues to experience gentrification . From the 18th and 19th centuries, free Black people owned businesses and mixed with Haitian immigrants at Tremé. It is estimated that Black people owned eighty percent of the neighborhood. After Hurricane Katrina passed through, over 1,000 Black households along Clairborne Avenue were wiped-out and replaced with 120 white households. According to research from author Shearon Roberts,

11067-507: Is described as "A lilting reggae groove with a calypso -inspired melody..." According to anthropologist Claude Jacobs, Black Spiritual churches in New Orleans have influences from Louisiana Voodoo, folk Catholicism, Protestantism, and Spiritualism . Jacobs defines the African-American Spiritual church movement as a spiritual religion that resembles other New World African derived religions . According to research,

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11284-561: Is done as an offering to the spirits, and also to ask a spirit to provide protection, healing, and other requests. When Africans were enslaved in the United States the practice continued in Voodoo and Hoodoo. The animals that are sacrificed are chickens. In West Africa among the Yoruba , blood sacrifices are left for Eshu-Elegba at the crossroads. The crossroads is a spiritual door way to the spiritual realm where Eshu-Elegba resides. This practice

11501-725: Is often a part of rituals in Louisiana Voodoo. Many historical Voodoo rituals involved the presence of a snake; Marie Laveau was for instance described as communing with a snake during her ceremonies. This practice largely died out by the end of the 19th century, although some Voodoo revivalists have incorporated snake dances into their practices. In the 21st century, the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple has had its own "temple snake." Charms, created to either harm or help, are called gris-gris . This term derives from West Africa, where related words are widespread among many ethnic and linguistic groups. In

11718-443: Is often associated with snakes in both West Africa and in his Haitian form, Damballa . Another recorded name, Dambarra Soutons, may be an additional name for Blanc Dani. A similar figure, Grandfather Rattlesnake, appeared in the 19th-century folklore of African-American Missourians and may also be a development of the same West African character. It is also possible that Blanc Dani was ultimately equated with another deity, known as

11935-518: Is probable that he derives from Dan or Da, a deity venerated by the Fon and Ewe people whose worship centred largely around Ouidah. In West Africa, Dan is associated with the color white and this may explain suggestions from the Louisiana material that Blanc Dani was perceived as a white man. Although there are no specific references to Blanc Dani being a serpent, the prominence of snakes within Louisiana Voodoo might have been an allusion to Blanc Dani, for Dan

12152-553: Is reminiscent of the communal sociopolitical structures in precolonial Africa, the African Diaspora masked carnivals challenged the political powers and interests of the dominant White elite." Black carnivals are a way for African Americans to come together without being exploited by the white American community, and a refusal by Black people to not conform to white carnivals. The widely accepted belief about Black American masking traditions is, "...that Mardi Gras Indian culture

12369-862: The African diaspora . An article from Tulane University explains: "It is generally agreed that the Mardi Gras Indian tradition has strong Afro-Caribbean folk roots. Many observers and scholars perceive specific parallels with costumes and music of the junkanoo parades of the Bahamas, and some street celebrations in Haiti . In a broader sense the Mardi Gras Indians represent one of many reflections of New Orleans' on-going status as an epicenter of African cultural retention in America. The Indians utilize many shared traits of African and African-American music, include call-and-response, syncopation, polyrhythm with

12586-566: The American South , with four million enslaved people only liberated during and at the end of the Civil War in 1865. During Reconstruction , they gained citizenship and adult-males the right to vote ; however, due to the widespread policy and ideology of White supremacy , they were largely treated as second-class citizens and found themselves soon disenfranchised in the South . These circumstances changed due to participation in

12803-541: The Americas and by Kikongo people in Central Africa. In African and Native American cultures, feathers have a spiritual meaning. They elevate the wearer's spirit and connect them to the spirit realm. Kikongo people wear feathered headdresses in ceremonies, festivals, are worn by African chiefs and dancers, and feathers are placed on masks to bring in good medicine. According to Dewulf, this practice continued in

13020-455: The Black racial groups of Africa . African Americans constitute the second largest ethno-racial group in the US after White Americans . The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States . Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved people within the boundaries of the present United States. While some Black immigrants or their children may also come to identify as African American,

13237-699: The Black Atlantic during and after slavery in the 19th and early 20th centuries was a way for African peoples in the Americas to syncretize their African spirits with Catholicism and Christianity to continue honoring some ancestral spirits, because colonial officials banned and forbid Black people from practicing African religions . The Code Noir in French colonies banned all non-Catholic religions and required enslaved and free people to convert to Catholicism. As an act of resistance, enslaved and free Africans in

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13454-478: The Black Diaspora that are similar to the performances and regalia of Mardi Gras Indians are: The regalia of Mardi Gras Indians has been defined by scholars as traditional African-American folk art ; it is a combination of African "dress art" inspired by Native American regalia. The beadwork of their regalia has influences from West African beadwork with Native American influences. Mardi Gras Indians are

13671-571: The Chitimacha , Natchez , Houma , Atakapa , and Tunica. The Underground Railroad went through Native American communities and a number of enslaved Africans escaped slavery and sought freedom and refuge in Native American villages. Enslaved Africans adopted some elements of Native culture that blended with West African and Afro-Caribbean song and dances. Natchez people use ornamental feathers for ceremonial purposes. The Chitimacha were

13888-685: The Civil War , eight serving presidents had owned slaves, a practice that was legally protected under the US Constitution. By 1860, the number of enslaved Black people in the US had grown to between 3.5 to 4.4 million, largely as a result of the Atlantic slave trade . In addition, 488,000–500,000 Black people lived free (with legislated limits) across the country. With legislated limits imposed upon them in addition to "unconquerable prejudice" from Whites according to Henry Clay . In response to these conditions, some free Black people chose to leave

14105-754: The Great Awakening . By 1775, Africans made up 20% of the population in the American colonies , which made them the second largest ethnic group after English Americans . During the 1770s, Africans, both enslaved and free, helped rebellious American colonists secure their independence by defeating the British in the American Revolutionary War . Blacks played a role in both sides in the American Revolution. Activists in

14322-541: The Irish and Germans . According to the 2010 census , nearly 3% of people who self-identified as Black had recent ancestors who immigrated from another country. Self-reported non-Hispanic Black immigrants from the Caribbean , mostly from Jamaica and Haiti, represented 0.9% of the US population, at 2.6 million. Self-reported Black immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa also represented 0.9%, at about 2.8 million. Additionally, self-identified Black Hispanics represented 0.4% of

14539-578: The Kabbalah , or with Hinduism . Louisiana Voodoo had no formal theology, although displayed its own spiritual hierarchy. Many practitioners of Voodoo have not seen their religion as being in intrinsic conflict with the Roman Catholicism that was dominant along the Mississippi River. The names of Louisiana Voodoo's deities were recorded in various 19th-century sources. These deities seem to derive predominantly from spirits venerated around

14756-704: The Louisiana State Museum explains the American Indian influence in Mardi Gras Indian culture. "The foundation of Black masking Indian visual storytelling is rooted in Native American resistance. Many of their suits showcase battle scenes depicting victorious Native Americans at war with U.S. soldiers." An article from UNESCO explains why Black Americans mask as Native people because they are "...asserting dignity and respect for Indian resistance to white domination." A New Orleans newspaper, Verite News , explains this practice of masking Indian as

14973-1020: The New York City metropolitan area still has the largest African American metropolitan population in the United States and the only to have over 3 million African Americans. Among cities of 100,000 or more , South Fulton, Georgia had the highest percentage of Black residents of any large US city in 2020, with 93%. Other large cities with African American majorities include Jackson, Mississippi (80%), Detroit, Michigan (80%), Birmingham, Alabama (70%), Miami Gardens, Florida (67%), Memphis, Tennessee (63%), Montgomery, Alabama (62%), Baltimore, Maryland (60%), Augusta, Georgia (59%), Shreveport, Louisiana (58%), New Orleans, Louisiana (57%), Macon, Georgia (56%), Baton Rouge, Louisiana (55%), Hampton, Virginia (53%), Newark, New Jersey (53%), Mobile, Alabama (53%), Cleveland, Ohio (52%), Brockton, Massachusetts (51%), and Savannah, Georgia (51%). Louisiana Voodoo Historical records reveal

15190-486: The Spanish–American War , bands from New Orleans played music for Cuban troops and beginning in the 1860s into the early 20th century, a boat service operated from Havana to New Orleans. In addition, observers of Cuban carnivals saw Cuban people masquerade as American Indians. Between 1860 and the early 1900s, Cuban culture influenced carnival and spirituality in New Orleans. According to scholar Jeroen Dewulf ,

15407-666: The Western states. The west does have a sizable Black population in certain areas, however. California, the nation's most populous state, has the fifth largest African American population, only behind New York, Texas, Georgia, and Florida. According to the 2000 census, approximately 2.05% of African Americans identified as Hispanic or Latino in origin , many of whom may be of Brazilian , Puerto Rican , Dominican , Cuban , Haitian , or other Latin American descent. The only self-reported ancestral groups larger than African Americans are

15624-485: The Winyah Bay area of present-day South Carolina ), founded by Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526. The ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans . De Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterward, due to an epidemic and the colony was abandoned. The settlers and

15841-446: The colony of Georgia to come to Florida as a refuge, promising freedom in exchange for conversion to Catholicism . King Charles II issued a royal proclamation freeing all slaves who fled to Spanish Florida and accepted conversion and baptism. Most went to the area around St. Augustine , but escaped slaves also reached Pensacola. St. Augustine had mustered an all-Black militia unit defending Spanish Florida as early as 1683. One of

16058-425: The military conflicts of the United States , substantial migration out of the South , the elimination of legal racial segregation , and the civil rights movement which sought political and social freedom. However, racism against African Americans and racial socioeconomic disparity remain a problem into the 21st century. In the 20th and 21st centuries, immigration has played an increasingly significant role in

16275-450: The saints played a prominent role, although amid the 20th-century revival, the veneration of deities from other African diasporic religions became common. The production of charms, which are known as gris-gris , plays an important part. From the early 18th century, enslaved West Africans—the majority of them Bambara and Kongo —were brought to the French colony of Louisiana. There, their traditional religions would have syncretized with

16492-498: The transatlantic slave trade were people from several Central and West Africa ethnic groups. They had been captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids, or sold by other West Africans, or by half-European "merchant princes" to European slave traders, who brought them to the Americas. The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo in the Caribbean to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony (most likely located in

16709-746: The 1730s, when Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz wrote about the use of gris-gris. In 1803, the United States took control of Louisiana through the Louisiana Purchase . This resulted in a large influx of Anglo-Americans into the region. These Anglo-Americans often had some familiarity with African-derived traditions, such as the John Canoe festivities on the Atlantic coast and the Pinkster celebrations in New York, but were unaccustomed to

16926-429: The 1790s, Governor Francisco Luis Héctor, baron of Carondelet reinforced local fortifications and recruit even more free Black men for the militia. Carondelet doubled the number of free Black men who served, creating two more militia companies—one made up of Black members and the other of pardo (mixed race). Serving in the militia brought free Black men one step closer to equality with Whites, allowing them, for example,

17143-477: The 1880s and 1890s, the New Orleans authorities again clamped down on Voodoo. Voodoo was used as evidence to bolster the white elite's claim that Africans were inferior to Europeans and thus bolster their belief in the necessity of legalized segregation. Various practitioners set up shops selling paraphernalia and charms, they also began exploiting the commercial opportunities of the religion by staging ceremonies which charged entry. Free women of color dominated

17360-433: The 18th century. The colony of New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718 and within the first decade 5,000 enslaved Africans were trafficked to the colony. The West-Central African ethnic groups taken to Louisiana during the transatlantic slave trade were Bambara , Gambian , Akan , Fon , Yoruba , and Kongolese peoples. From 1719 to 1743, almost 30 percent of African people imported to New Orleans came from Ouidah ,

17577-633: The 1900 Hampton Negro Conference , Reverend Matthew Anderson said: "...the lines along most of the avenues of wage earning are more rigidly drawn in the North than in the South." Within the housing market, stronger discriminatory measures were used in correlation to the influx, resulting in a mix of "targeted violence, restrictive covenants , redlining and racial steering ". While many Whites defended their space with violence, intimidation, or legal tactics toward African Americans, many other Whites migrated to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions,

17794-429: The 1920s may have influenced Mardi Gras Indians to incorporate feather designs from Plains Indians and other Indigenous nations into their suits. Some African Americans believe they can call on the spirit of Sauk Leader Black Hawk and other Native American resistance leaders. They were inspired and respected Indigenous peoples resistance and fight against American westward expansion. In 1740, New Orleans' Congo Square

18011-533: The 1930s and 1940s suggested that, as it existed in the closing three decades of the 19th century, Voodoo primarily entailed supplications to the saints for assistance. Among the most popular was Saint Anthony of Padua ; this figure is also the patron saint of the Kongo, a likely link to the heavily Kongo-descended population of New Orleans. Rejecting the centrality of the saints for her 21st-century practice, Osbey has described these saints as "servants and messengers of

18228-446: The 19th century, entertainers performed on stage using negative stereotypes of Native Americans in minstrel shows . This may have influenced some of the regalia and performances of Mardi Gras Indians. By the 1960s into present day, some Mardi Gras Indians began to incorporate more imagery from African cultures and African diaspora religions in their regalia, and removed the words " Indian Red " in their music. Author Michael Smith says that

18445-628: The African slave trade, Spanish rule introduced a new law called coartación , which allowed slaves to buy their freedom, and that of others. Although some did not have the money to do so, government measures on slavery enabled the existence of many free Blacks. This caused problems to the Spaniards with the French creoles (French who had settled in New France ) who had also populated Spanish Louisiana. The French creoles cited that measure as one of

18662-564: The African-American community. As of 2022, 10% of Black Americans were immigrants, and 20% were either immigrants or the children of immigrants. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first, and so far only, African American to be elected president of the United States. Kamala Harris became the nation's first African-American vice president in 2020. African-American culture has had a significant influence on worldwide culture, making numerous contributions to visual arts , literature ,

18879-559: The Africans were held in large groups relatively isolated from interaction with whites, their preservation of African indigenous practices and culture was enabled. In northern Louisiana and other European colonies in the American South, enslaved families were usually divided; large numbers of African slaves who were once closely related by family or community were sent to different plantations. However, in southern Louisiana, families, cultures, and languages were kept more intact than in

19096-507: The American Revolution. They fought in the 1779 battle in which Spain captured Baton Rouge from the British. Gálvez also commanded them in campaigns against the British outposts in Mobile , Alabama , and Pensacola , Florida. He recruited slaves for the militia by pledging to free anyone who was seriously wounded and promised to secure a low price for coartación (buy their freedom and that of others) for those who received lesser wounds. During

19313-444: The Americas continued to practice their religions by fusing them with carnivals. In carnivals and African religions there is singing, dancing, drumming, and wearing masks and costumes. Black people continued to practice their traditions and cultures from Africa with influences from Native American cultures which created Black masking carnival traditions in the diaspora and in New Orleans. Masking for African Americans during Mardi Gras

19530-526: The Americas where enslaved Africans and their descendants wear feather headdresses during carnivals. The designs of African headdresses blended with headdresses worn by Indigenous people creating unique and different styles across the diaspora. Mardi Gras Indians are a part of the carnival festival culture in the diaspora. Black people in the Americas create their own regalia using art and symbolism from West-Central African beadwork and colors that blends with Native American culture. The festivals performed tell

19747-616: The Ancestors." She related that, unlike in Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santería, the Roman Catholic saints retained their distinct identities rather than being equated with specific West African deities. Writing in the 2010s, the Voodoo practitioner and poet Brenda Marie Osbey described a belief in "a somewhat distant but single deity" being part of the religion, while Rory O'Neill Schmitt and Rosary Hartel O'Neill expressed

19964-605: The Atlantic to the Western Hemisphere . After arriving in the Americas , they were sold as slaves to European colonists and put to work on plantations , particularly in the southern colonies . A few were able to achieve freedom through manumission or escape, and founded independent communities before and during the American Revolution . After the United States was founded in 1783, most Black people continued to be enslaved , primarily concentrated in

20181-545: The Bamboula, associated with Louisiana Congo Square legacy, was kept intact within that tradition." The traditional New Orleans Black masking Indian song Iko Iko is believed to derive from a combination of the Native American Choctaw and Chickasaw languages, Louisiana Creole , French , and West African languages. Scholars noted the similar musical, dance, and regalia practices of Black people in

20398-540: The Bight of Benin. In contrast to Haitian Vodou, there is no evidence that these were divided into groups known as nanchon (nations). Tout, tout, pays blanc — Danié qui commandé Danié qui commandé ça! Danié qui commandé — A song used among Louisiana field hands, recorded in 1885, that probably related to Blanc Dani One of the most important deities was Blanc Dani, also known as Daniel Blanc or Monsieur Danny. The earliest records of him date from 1880, and it

20615-532: The Black Spiritual Church movement and the story of Black Hawk in New Orleans may have influenced Mardi Gras Indians to incorporate regalia and the feathers of other Native American nations into their suits. Scholars at Tulane University created an online exhibit that explains a brief history about Mardi Gras Indians and how Natchez people's culture influenced the cultural practices of enslaved Africans. The American Gulf Coast Indigenous Nations are

20832-459: The Caribbean and have women participation. Black women partake in this tradition to preserve the culture and tradition; they make colorful suits and join in the parades. An interview was conducted in 2024 with Cherice Harrison-Nelson, a Mardi Gras Indian from New Orleans. For Harrison-Nelson choosing to partake in the Mardi Gras Indian tradition was a spiritual and personal choice. Five generations in her family masked as Indians. Harrison-Nelson notes

21049-481: The Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson , would later own one of the first Black "slaves", John Casor , resulting from the court ruling of a civil case. The popular conception of a race-based slave system did not fully develop until the 18th century. The Dutch West India Company introduced slavery in 1625 with the importation of eleven Black slaves into New Amsterdam (present-day New York City ). All

21266-508: The English language, philosophy , politics, cuisine , sports , and music . The African-American contribution to popular music is so profound that most American music , including jazz , gospel , blues , rock and roll , funk , disco , house , techno , hip hop , R&B , trap , and soul , has its origins either partially or entirely in the African-American community. The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported in

21483-521: The Festival as well. In recent years it has become more common to see Mardi Gras Indians at other festivals and parades in the city. Notwithstanding the popularity of such activities for tourists and residents alike, the phenomenon of the Mardi Gras Indians is said to reflect both a vital musical history and an equally vital attempt to express internal social dynamics. Mardi Gras Indians have been practicing their traditions in New Orleans at least since

21700-736: The French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue overthrew the French colonial government and established an independent republic, Haiti. As a result of the upheaval, between 15,000 and 20,000 Francophone migrants from Saint-Domingue arrived in the Mississippi River Valley as a result of the Revolution, including those of African, European, and mixed descent. Many would have been familiar with Haitian Vodou and their arrival in continental North America likely reinforced and influenced Louisiana Voodoo. According to legend,

21917-539: The Grand Zombi, whose name meant "Great God" or "Great Spirit;" the term Zombi derives from the Kongo Bantu term nzambi (god). Another prominent deity was Papa Lébat, also called Liba, LaBas, or Laba Limba, and he was seen as a trickster as well as a doorkeeper; he is the only one of these New Orleans deities with an unequivocally Yoruba origin. Monsieur Assonquer, also known as Onzancaire and On Sa Tier,

22134-456: The Jim Crow laws, to avoid racially motivated violence . To maintain self-esteem and dignity, African Americans such as Anthony Overton and Mary McLeod Bethune continued to build their own schools , churches , banks, social clubs, and other businesses. In the last decade of the 19th century, racially discriminatory laws and racial violence aimed at African Americans began to mushroom in

22351-670: The Mardi Gras Indians have also been traced to mock-war performances by warriors called sangamento from the Kingdom of Kongo . The word is derived from a verb in the Kikongo language , ku-sanga , denoting ecstatic dancers. In Portuguese ku-sanga became sangamento. Kikongo people in Central Africa performed dances decorated in African feather headdress and wore belts with jingle bells. Sangamento performers dance using leaps, contortions, and gyrations; this style of dancing influenced

22568-586: The Mississippi River Valley, references to gris-gris first date from the 1750s. The term Zinzin , sometimes referring to positive charms, derives from the Bamana language. Another term, Wanga , was more commonly used for harmful charms in Voodoo and probably derives from West Central Africa, where the terms oganga and nganga were used for priests in Kikongo. A common charm for protection or luck would consist of material wrapped up in red flannel and worn around

22785-747: The Montgomery bus." The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the conditions which brought it into being are credited with putting pressure on presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson . Johnson put his support behind passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and labor unions , and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which expanded federal authority over states to ensure Black political participation through protection of voter registration and elections. By 1966,

23002-560: The Natchez spared the enslaved Africans due to a general sense of affinity between the Natchez and the Africans; some slaves even joined the Natchez, while others took the chance to escape to freedom. The first recorded slave dances on plantations in Louisiana were recorded by the French in 1732. Archival records documented the first enslaved Africans dressing as Indigenous people in celebatory dance called Mardi Gras in 1746. In 1771, free men of color held Mardi Gras in maroon camps and in

23219-772: The Patriot cause included James Armistead , Prince Whipple , and Oliver Cromwell . Around 15,000 Black Loyalists left with the British after the war, most of them ending up as free Black people in England or its colonies, such as the Black Nova Scotians and the Sierra Leone Creole people . In the Spanish Louisiana , Governor Bernardo de Gálvez organized Spanish free Black men into two militia companies to defend New Orleans during

23436-550: The Rada and the Petwo. Glassman's New Orleans temple for instance has separate altars to the Rada and Petwo lwa. Each of these is associated with particular items, colors, numbers, foodstuff, and drinks. They are often considered to be intermediaries of God, who in Haitian Vodou is usually termed Le Bon Dieu . The spirits of the dead played a prominent role in Louisiana Voodoo during the 19th century. The prominence of these spirits of

23653-486: The Roman Catholic Church waging "anti-superstition campaigns" against the religion in Louisiana. All of the West African groups contributed to the development of Louisiana Voodoo. Their knowledge of herbs, poisons, and the ritual creation of charms and amulets , intended to protect oneself or harm others, became key elements of Louisiana Voodoo. During the French colonial period, around 80 percent of

23870-411: The Roman Catholic beliefs of the French. This continued as Louisiana came under Spanish control and was then purchased by the United States in 1803. In the early 19th century, many migrants fleeing the Haitian Revolution arrived in Louisiana, bringing with them Haitian Vodou, which contributed to the formation of Louisiana Voodoo. Although the religion was never banned, its practice was restricted through

24087-546: The South sparked the Great Migration during the first half of the 20th century which led to a growing African American community in Northern and Western United States. The rapid influx of Blacks disturbed the racial balance within Northern and Western cities, exacerbating hostility between both Blacks and Whites in the two regions. The Red Summer of 1919 was marked by hundreds of deaths and higher casualties across

24304-675: The Spanish governor of the city forbade large gatherings of enslaved and free Black people at taverns and banned them from dancing, wearing masks and feathers during carnival seasons. African Americans and Indigenous peoples of Louisiana and in the Seminole Nation in Florida united against white oppression. According to Salaam, these connections inspired African Americans in New Orleans to dress as Native Americans and tell stories of resistance and escape through visual art and dance seen in

24521-521: The US Census Bureau, evidence from the 2000 census indicates that many African and Caribbean immigrant ethnic groups do not identify as "Black, African Am., or Negro". Instead, they wrote in their own respective ethnic groups in the "Some Other Race" write-in entry. As a result, the census bureau devised a new, separate "African American" ethnic group category in 2010 for ethnic African Americans. Nigerian Americans and Ethiopian Americans were

24738-608: The US and emigrate to Liberia in West Africa. Liberia had been established in 1821 as a settlement by the American Colonization Society (ACS), with many abolitionist members of the ACS believing Black Americans would have greater opportunities for freedom and equality in Africa than they would in the US. Slaves not only represented a significant financial investment for their owners, but they also played

24955-506: The US as a result of race riots that occurred in more than three dozen cities, such as the Chicago race riot of 1919 and the Omaha race riot of 1919 . Overall, Blacks in Northern and Western cities experienced systemic discrimination in a plethora of aspects of life. Within employment, economic opportunities for Blacks were routed to the lowest-status and restrictive in potential mobility. At

25172-407: The US. As a result of this large-scale forced movement, countless individuals lost their connection to families and clans, and many ethnic Africans lost their knowledge of varying tribal origins in Africa. The 1863 photograph of Wilson Chinn , a branded slave from Louisiana, along with the famous image of Gordon and his scarred back, served as two of the earliest and most powerful examples of how

25389-423: The United States . In June 2021, Juneteenth , a day which commemorates the end of slavery in the US, became a federal holiday. In 1790, when the first US census was taken, Africans (including slaves and free people) numbered about 760,000—about 19.3% of the population. In 1860, at the start of the Civil War , the African American population had increased to 4.4 million, but the percentage rate dropped to 14% of

25606-477: The United States population, at about 1.2 million people, largely found within the Puerto Rican and Dominican communities. Self-reported Black immigrants hailing from other countries in the Americas, such as Brazil and Canada, as well as several European countries, represented less than 0.1% of the population. Mixed-race Hispanic and non-Hispanic Americans who identified as being part Black, represented 0.9% of

25823-763: The United States, a period often referred to as the " nadir of American race relations ". These discriminatory acts included racial segregation—upheld by the United States Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896—which was legally mandated by southern states and nationwide at the local level of government, voter suppression or disenfranchisement in the southern states, denial of economic opportunity or resources nationwide, and private acts of violence and mass racial violence aimed at African Americans unhindered or encouraged by government authorities. The desperate conditions of African Americans in

26040-638: The United States, continuing to flourish until the 1860s. Historians estimate that nearly one million individuals were subjected to this forced migration, which was often referred to as a new "Middle Passage". The historian Ira Berlin described this internal forced migration of enslaved people as the "central event" in the life of a slave during the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Berlin emphasized that whether enslaved individuals were directly uprooted or lived in constant fear that they or their families would be involuntarily relocated, "the massive deportation traumatized Black people" throughout

26257-524: The Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of lifetime slavery when they sentenced John Punch , a Negro, to lifetime servitude under his master Hugh Gwyn , for running away. In Spanish Florida , some Spanish married or had unions with Pensacola , Creek or African women, both enslaved and free, and their descendants created a mixed-race population of mestizos and mulattos . The Spanish encouraged slaves from

26474-523: The Voodoo priestess Ava Kay Jones performed a rite to drive harmful spirits away from the New Orleans Saints football team in the hope of improving their performance. Historical records describe the altars created by famous 19th-century Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau in her home; Long noted that these descriptions resemble those of altars used in Haitian Vodou. Many contemporary practitioners have their own personal altars, often located in

26691-404: The adoption of Catholic practices into Louisiana Voodoo. Another element brought from West Africa was the veneration of ancestors and the subsequent emphasis on respect for elders. For this reason, the rate of survival among elderly enslaved peoples was high, further "Africanizing Louisiana Creole culture." Records of African traditional religious practices being practiced in Louisiana go back to

26908-467: The all-male West African secret masquerade societies practiced among the Igbo and Yoruba . Mardi Gras Indians today have their own secret coded symbols, songs and language only initiates within the community know. In the 19th century, Creole dialects developed differently within each neighborhood because of the diversity of African languages spoken, each having its own syntax and phonetics. This contributed to

27125-578: The attorney general warned the City Commission of problems arising from 'a great number of free negroes and slaves who, with the pretext of the Carnival season, mask and mix in bands passing through the streets looking for the dance-halls.'" Other examples scene were in 1804 and 1813 where a German American and Swiss traveler saw Black men dressed in oriental and Native American attire wearing Turkish turbans of various colors. Spanish officials in

27342-418: The belief that contemporary Voodoo was monotheistic . In its early 21st century form, Louisiana Voodoo accords particular respect to elders. Various commentators have described Louisiana Voodoo as matriarchal because of the dominant role priestesses have played in it. Osbey described the religion as being "entirely within the sphere of women, whom we call Mothers." The feminist theorist Tara Green defined

27559-494: The carcass. It is nevertheless not a universal practice in Louisiana Voodoo; Glassman's group prohibits animal sacrifice in its rites. Although there is little proof that human sacrifice took place in Louisiana Voodoo, persistent rumors claimed that white children were being abducted and killed during some of its rites. Plates of food may be left out, encircled in a ring of coins. Libations may be poured. Laveau used to hold weekly services, which were called parterres . Music

27776-515: The celebration of life, addressing social justice issues, political liberation, transformation, healing, protection from the unknown, spirit possession , and the conjuring of spirits. The Black Mardi Gras Indian tradition is defined by Joyce Marie Jackson of Tulane University as an African American celebration drawing on American Indian and West African "motifs and music to create a folk ritual and street theater unique to New Orleans". There are more than 40 active "tribes" which range in size from half

27993-501: The changing of racial demographics in post-Katrina affects the continuation of culture for some Black residents. Occupation by white residents of spaces that were once Black-owned and where Black masking and cultural traditions were perpetuated resulted in three consequences: "...economic loss through appropriation, increased forms of criminalization, and the rupturing of Black safe communal spaces." Black New Orleanians experience cultural intrusion and appropriation from outsiders that affects

28210-594: The city's back areas. Some of the Mardi Gras Indians wore their masks to balls: "...the Spanish administration of the city at the Cabildo granted a prohibition of black persons from being masked, wearing feathers, and attending nightballs. This forced them to dress and roam only in the black neighborhoods and Congo Square." An article by author and photographer Michael P. Smith quotes Brassea and explains: "As early as 1781 in Spanish-ruled New Orleans,

28427-469: The colony in 1719. In 1763 the Spanish Empire took control and remained in power until 1803. The religions of the West African slaves combined with elements of the folk Catholicism practiced by the dominant French and Spanish colonists to provide the origins of Louisiana Voodoo. Under the French and Spanish colonial governments, Voodoo did not experience strong persecution; there are no records of

28644-430: The colony's slaves, however, were freed upon its surrender to the English. Massachusetts was the first English colony to legally recognize slavery in 1641. In 1662, Virginia passed a law that children of enslaved women would take the status of the mother, rather than that of the father, as was the case under common law . This legal principle was called partus sequitur ventrum . By an act of 1699, Virginia ordered

28861-418: The community. This change of identity only occurs during Mardi Gras when Black maskers wear their regalia. A change in identity when masking and wearing suits during Mardi Gras is a continuation of African masking traditions. In Sub-Saharan African cultures, when a person masks their identity changes. Masks are worn to invite the gods to possess the individual and take them to another plane of existence. Masking

29078-469: The creation of jazz . Their music is derived from African polyrhythms and syncopated beats combined with African and Creole languages, and French and European musical influences. An article from Folklife in Louisiana explains the continuation of African rhythms at Congo Square: "The Mardi Gras Indians also retained the Bamboula , which describes a drumbeat and dance. For nearly one hundred and twenty years

29295-541: The crossroads as an offering to the crossroad spirit and to ask the spirit or spirits for a request. At Stagville Plantation located in Durham County, North Carolina, enslaved Africans performed animal sacrifice to call forth spirits for assistance in the slave community . At the Kingsley Plantation at Fort George Island, Florida, archeologists found evidence of West African animal sacrifice inside

29512-447: The dance and musical styles of Mardi Gras Indians. The history of Mardi Gras Indians has its beginnings in Louisiana's maroon communities, where enslaved Africans hid in the villages of Native Americans. According to Smith, Mardi Gras Indians preserve their traditional African dance culture and music that blended with Native American culture. Congo Square was where enslaved Africans and Native Americans gathered during their free time and

29729-555: The dance styles of Mardi Gras Indians. During the transatlantic slave trade , Bantu people were enslaved in the Americas and influenced carnival culture in the Black diaspora and Mardi Gras Indian performances in New Orleans. Sangamentos were a brotherhood of men with a semi-underground culture that may have influenced the Mardi Gras tradition at Congo Square. Scholars at Duke University found that Kikongo peoples' culture influenced African diaspora religions , Afro-American music, and

29946-639: The dead may owe something to the fact that New Orleans' African American population was heavily descended from enslaved Kongolese, whose traditional religions placed emphasis on such spirits. In the 21st century, Louisiana Voodoo has been characterized as a system of ancestor worship. Communicating with the ancestors is an important part of its practice, with these ancestral spirits often invoked during ceremonies. As Africans arrived in Louisiana, they adopted from Roman Catholicism and so various West African deities became associated with specific Roman Catholic saints. Interviews with elderly New Orleanians conducted in

30163-428: The deportation of all free Blacks, effectively defining all people of African descent who remained in the colony as slaves. In 1670, the colonial assembly passed a law prohibiting free and baptized Blacks (and Native Americans) from purchasing Christians (in this act meaning White Europeans) but allowing them to buy people "of their owne nation". In Spanish Louisiana , although there was no movement toward abolition of

30380-555: The diaspora. By the 20th century, more Haitian immigrants settled in Louisiana where some elements of rara festival culture blended with Black American carnivals. When other Afro-Caribbean communities started to settle in New Orleans, their culture was incorporated into the suits, dances and music. Historian Jeroen Dewulf noted other Black people in the diaspora dress as Indigenous people and wear feathered headdresses in Cuba, Peru, Trinidad , and Brazil. Feathered headdresses are worn in

30597-539: The emergence of the Black Power movement, which lasted from 1966 to 1975, expanded upon the aims of the civil rights movement to include economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from White authority. During the post-war period, many African Americans continued to be economically disadvantaged relative to other Americans. Average Black income stood at 54 percent of that of White workers in 1947, and 55 percent in 1962. In 1959, median family income for Whites

30814-564: The enslaved Africans brought to Louisiana were from the Bambara people of the Senegal River basin. Most of the other 20 percent were Kongolese, with a few from Dahomey. After the Spanish took control, increasing numbers of slaves were imported from the Kongo, ensuring a "Kongolization of New Orleans's African American community". The enslaved community quickly outnumbered white European colonists who emigrated there. The French colony

31031-610: The enslaved in the Caribbean and New Orleans. It became a voodoo dance and "the dance of Congo Square". The Calinda dance was integrated into Mardi Gras Indian traditions. Other dance influences were the chica, an Afro-Caribbean dance, and bamboula , an African derived dance, that were performed at Congo Square by free and enslaved people. Historians in New Orleans see the continuation of African, Caribbean, European and Cuban musical and dance influences at Congo Square. Caribbean music influenced Mardi Gras Indians performances. In 1976, The Wild Tchoupitoulas released an album and their music

31248-1002: The enslaved population and tripled the population of free people of color in the city. The port of New Orleans received immigrants from Cuba, Germany, Ireland, and other parts of the Caribbean. The festival cultures from Haiti , Jamaica and other areas from the West Indies blended with carnival traditions in free and enslaved Black American communities. The Caribbean cultures that influenced New Orleans were: Jonkonnu , Rara , Gaga, Canboulet, and other West Indian maroon settlements. Free and enslaved Black people were banned from attending Mardi Gras by white New Orleans carnival krewes. African American communities celebrated Mardi Gras by incorporating African rhythms, drumming, dance, and masking traditions that resemble those cultures in West Africa into their festivities, and masked as Indians to tell stories of enslaved people escaping slavery and finding refuge in Native American communities. The origins of

31465-536: The first African American woman elected to the US Senate . There were 8,936 Black officeholders in the United States in 2000, showing a net increase of 7,467 since 1970. In 2001, there were 484 Black mayors. In 2005, the number of Africans immigrating to the United States, in a single year, surpassed the peak number who were involuntarily brought to the United States during the Atlantic slave trade . On November 4, 2008, Democratic Senator Barack Obama —the son of

31682-520: The first meeting place of the Voodoo practitioners in New Orleans was at an abandoned brickyard in Dumaine Street . Those meetings here faced police disruption and so future meetings took place largely in Bayou St. John and along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain . The religion probably appealed to members of the African diaspora, whether enslaved or free, who lacked recourse to retribution for

31899-798: The first to make a public musical procession in New Orleans called Marche du Calumet de Paix. "Members of the Chitimacha tribe marched through the city conducting a Calumet Ceremony, or a Peace Pipe Ceremony. They sang, danced, made speeches, and touched each other while sharing a pipe to celebrate peace amongst each other. A similar celebration was adopted by slaves who famously met at Congo Square." "The African American communities adopted aspects of Native culture such as their dancing techniques and their innate feather designs. They incorporated these elements into already existent parts of their culture- predominately their West African and Afro-Caribbean song and dance." The first Mardi Gras Indians suited up and paraded

32116-570: The future United States) were "20 and odd negroes" who arrived in Jamestown , Virginia via Cape Comfort in August 1619 as indentured servants . As many Virginian settlers began to die from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. An indentured servant (who could be White or Black) would work for several years (usually four to seven) without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland

32333-503: The harm of others was a key aspect to early Louisiana Voodoo. The Ouanga , a charm used to poison an enemy, contained the toxic roots of the figuier maudit tree, brought from Africa and preserved in Louisiana. The ground-up root was combined with other elements, such as bones, nails, roots, holy water, holy candles, holy incense, holy bread, or crucifixes. The administrator of the ritual frequently evoked protection from Jehovah and Jesus Christ . This openness of African belief allowed for

32550-443: The historian Blake Touchstone noted that Louisiana Voodoo was then largely being practiced outside the public eye. Among some contemporary practitioners there is a tradition not to speak to non-adherents about Voodoo. Louisiana Voodoo has not remained static, but has adapted and changed over time; in its original form, it probably survived into the early 20th century. Voodoo is a largely oral tradition. It has no formal creed, not

32767-554: The history and culture of Mardi Gras in the city. The culture of enslaved Africans fused with Afro-Caribbean, Native American and European cultures that syncretized at Congo Square and was practiced during Mardi Gras. An article from the Smithsonian Magazine gives a brief history of the Mardi Gras Indians: "Scholars generally agree that the Mardi Gras Indian tradition is linked to early encounters between

32984-411: The idea that St John's Eve is important in Louisiana Voodoo. Various contemporary practitioners celebrate All Saints Day (1 November) which they, following Haitian Vodou, link with the lwa Gede . Much mystery surrounds the origins of Louisiana Voodoo, with its history often being embellished with legend. French settlers arrived in Louisiana in 1699, with the first enslaved Africans being brought to

33201-414: The kitchen or living room. These altars are understood as assisting communication with ancestors, with food and drink being offered to the ancestors at them. Sacrifice was a recurring element of Louisiana Voodoo as it was historically practiced, as it continues to be in Haitian Vodou. Some 21st-century practitioners of Louisiana Voodoo do sacrifice animals in their rites, subsequently cooking and eating

33418-701: The late 1740s and 1750s, many enslaved Africans fled to the bayous of Louisiana where they encountered Native Americans. Years later, after the Civil War, hundreds of freed slaves joined the U.S. Ninth Cavalry Regiment , also known as Buffalo Soldiers . The Buffalo Soldiers fought, killed, forced, and aided the mass removal and relocation of the Plains Indians on the Western Frontier. After returning to New Orleans, many ex-soldiers joined popular Wild West shows, most notably Buffalo Bill's Wild West . The show wintered in New Orleans from 1884 to 1885 and

33635-410: The late 18th century increased immigration and trade in the lower Mississippi valley by granting French merchants permission to import enslaved people from St. Domingue and other Caribbean islands. American merchants in New Orleans invested in capital by importing enslaved persons from Jamaica and other British West Indian colonies for sell. After the abolition of transatlantic slave trade in 1807,

33852-491: The leadership of Voodoo in New Orleans during the 19th century. They made a living through the selling and administering of amulets, or "gris-gris" charms, and magical powers, as well as spells and charms that guaranteed to "cure ailments, grant desires, and confound or destroy one's enemies". As in other French colonial communities, a class of free people of color developed who were given specific rights and, in New Orleans, acquired property and education. Free women of color had

34069-562: The lyrics of " Indian Red " are a prayer song sung during Mardi Gras Indian practices that honors various "gang" members past and present, and praying for peace and justice. Andrew Pearse suggests the origins of Indian Red comes from a carnival song in Trinidad "Indurubi" which may have come from the Spanish Indio Rubi (Indian Red). In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed African-American neighborhoods in New Orleans. Tremé

34286-443: The majority of first-generation immigrants do not, preferring to identify with their nation of origin. Most African Americans are of West African and coastal Central African ancestry, with varying amounts of Western European and Native American ancestry. African-American history began in the 16th century, with Africans from West Africa and coastal Central Africa being sold to European slave traders and transported across

34503-504: The meaning and history of their traditions. The Northside Skull and Bones gang and other masking traditions continue at Treme during Mardi Gras. According to local oral history, the Skull and Bones Gangs started in 1819 in Treme. Black maskers dress in black costumes with painted white skeleton bones to honor the dead and to caution the living that death is inevitable. Some participants believe

34720-489: The most reported sub-Saharan African groups in the United States. Historically, African Americans have been undercounted in the US census due to a number of factors. In the 2020 census, the African American population was undercounted at an estimated rate of 3.3%, up from 2.1% in 2010. Texas has the largest African American population by state. Followed by Texas is Florida , with 3.8 million, and Georgia , with 3.6 million. After 100 years of African Americans leaving

34937-415: The names of various deities who were worshiped in Voodoo. Prominent among them were Blanc Dani, the Grand Zombi, and Papa Lébat. These were venerated at altars, where sacrifices were made to them. Spirits of the dead also played a prominent role in historical Voodoo, with some contemporary practitioners regarding the religion as a form of ancestor worship . Historical accounts suggest that in the 19th century,

35154-585: The neck. Touchstone believed that gris-gris that caused actual harm did so either through the power of suggestion or by the fact that they contained poisons to which the victim was exposed. One example of a Voodoo curse was to place an object inside the pillow of the victim. Another involves placing a coffin (sometimes a small model; sometimes much larger) inscribed with the victim's name on their doorstep. In other instances, Voodoo practitioners sought to hex others by placing black crosses, salt, or mixtures incorporating mustard, lizards, bones, oil, and grave dust on

35371-465: The newborn medium of photography could be used to visually document and encapsulate the brutality and cruelty of slavery. Emigration of free Blacks to their continent of origin had been proposed since the Revolutionary war. After Haiti became independent, it tried to recruit African Americans to migrate there after it re-established trade relations with the United States. The Haitian Union was

35588-418: The north. This allowed the cultural traditions, languages, and religious practices of the enslaved to continue there. Under the French code and the influence of Catholicism, officials nominally recognized family groups, prohibiting the sale of slave children away from their families if younger than age fourteen. They promoted the man-made legend of wake tuko of the enslaved population. The high mortality of

35805-451: The overall White vote, although he won a larger proportion of White votes than any previous non-incumbent Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter . Obama was reelected for a second and final term , by a similar margin on November 6, 2012. In 2021, Kamala Harris , the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother, became the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to serve as Vice President of

36022-417: The overall population of the country. The vast majority were slaves, with only 488,000 counted as " freemen ". By 1900, the Black population had doubled and reached 8.8 million. In 1910, about 90% of African Americans lived in the South. Large numbers began migrating north looking for better job opportunities and living conditions, and to escape Jim Crow laws and racial violence. The Great Migration , as it

36239-404: The past and the future, and more entire abandonment to the joyous existence of the present moment." The idea of letting loose and embracing traditional African music and dance is a backbone of the Mardi Gras Indians practice. Masking Indians play traditional music using belled wrists and ankle bands, congas , and tambourines . The music of Mardi Gras Indians played at Congo square contributed to

36456-426: The performances of Mardi Gras Indians. Scholar and filmmaker, Maurice M. Martinez, also argues that the Mardi Gras Indians predate Eurocentric interpretations of Native Americans presented during Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Black people in New Orleans dressed as American Indians during carnival seasons years before Buffalo Bill and his wild west show came to the city. The Spiritual church movement in New Orleans in

36673-458: The poor treatment they received through other means. Voodoo probably spread out from Louisiana and into African American communities throughout the Mississippi River Valley, as there are 19th-century references to Voodoo rituals in both St. Louis and St. Joseph in Missouri . Voodoo was never explicitly banned in Louisiana. However, amid establishment fears that Voodoo may be used to foment

36890-452: The population. Of the 12.6% of United States residents who identified as Black, around 10.3% were "native Black American" or ethnic African Americans, who are direct descendants of West/Central Africans brought to the US as slaves. These individuals make up well over 80% of all Blacks in the country. When including people of mixed-race origin , about 13.5% of the US population self-identified as Black or "mixed with Black". However, according to

37107-528: The port of New Orleans was the center of the domestic slave trade in the United States before the American Civil War . New Orleans received enslaved persons from other southern states to supply the demand for enslaved labor on the sugar and cotton plantations. In addition, during and after the Haitian Revolution , enslavers fled the island of Hispaniola and brought their enslaved people with them to New Orleans. In 1810, free and enslaved Haitian refugees from Cuba came to New Orleans; this wave of migration doubled

37324-509: The post-war Reconstruction era was initially a time of progress for African Americans, that period ended in 1876. By the late 1890s, Southern states enacted Jim Crow laws to enforce racial segregation and disenfranchisement . Segregation was now imposed with Jim Crow laws, using signs used to show Blacks where they could legally walk, talk, drink, rest, or eat. For those places that were racially mixed, non-Whites had to wait until all White customers were dealt with. Most African Americans obeyed

37541-510: The post–civil rights era. In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American Supreme Court Justice. In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the US Congress . In 1989, Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected governor in US history. Clarence Thomas succeeded Marshall to become the second African American Supreme Court Justice in 1991. In 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois became

37758-823: The practices of Mardi Gras Indians attract church members where they perform ring shout dances with percussion in inner city clubs. According to authors Judith Bettelheim and Stephen Wehmeyer, the Spiritual church movement in New Orleans Black communities may also have influences from Bakongo Nkisi culture and Afro-Caribbean spirituality. The belief in the conjuration of American Indian spirits using Indian statues according to researchers comes from Cuba and Puerto Rico . Cuban and Puerto Rican practitioners of Espiritismo and Palo Mayombe conjure Native American spirits using Indian statues similar to how Bakongo people in Central Africa conjure spirits using Nkisi statues. Authors Bettelheim and Wehmeyer suggest that during

37975-836: The practices of New Orleans Black Spiritualist communities as early as 1852. Emma Britton, a spiritualist historian, documented Black mediums in the movement in the 19th century, and Caribbean influences may have also brought Indian imagery and American Indian spirits. In 1920 Leafy Anderson moved to New Orleans and brought the belief that the Sauk leader Black Hawk is a spirit guide and can be called upon in prayer or ritual. Black Spiritual churches syncretized practices from Leafy Anderson into their services. Other religious traditions African Americans blended were African religious practices, Pentecostal worship, mediumship , spirit possession, Hoodoo , and Native American resistance. Mardi Gras Indians attend Spiritual churches in New Orleans because of

38192-447: The ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865. While the Naturalization Act of 1790 limited US citizenship to Whites only, the 14th Amendment (1868) gave Black people citizenship, and the 15th Amendment (1870) gave Black men the right to vote. African Americans quickly set up congregations for themselves, as well as schools and community/civic associations, to have space away from White control or oversight. While

38409-416: The recitation of the Apostles Creed and prayers to the Virgin Mary . In the 21st century, various Voodoo groups wear white clothing for their ceremonies. Influenced by Haitian Vodou, those assembled may dance around a central post, the poto mitan . Patterned flags, called drapos , may be brought out, while songs are sung in Haitian Kreyol. Drawings, called vèvè , may be made on the floor to invoke

38626-456: The region’s Native and Black communities. Founded by the French in 1718, the city of New Orleans stands on land originally inhabited by the Chitimacha Tribe. As early as 1719, European colonizers brought enslaved people from the western coast of Africa to the nascent port city, which eventually became a hub of the United States slave trade. While Africans made up the majority of enslaved people in Louisiana , research conducted by Leila K. Blackbird,

38843-439: The religion being lost and not recoverable. In the late 20th century there was a revival of Louisiana Voodoo, creating a tradition that "more closely resembles" Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santería than the 19th-century Louisiana Voodoo that is described in historical accounts. Some 21st-century practitioners have also sought instruction from West African traditions, for instance, being initiated into West African Vodun . Although

39060-419: The religion have featured in popular culture. Louisiana Voodoo was a religion, one more specifically characterized as an African American religion or a creole religion. Louisiana Voodoo has also been referred to as New Orleans Voodoo, and—in some older texts—Voodooism. The scholar Ina J. Fandrich described it as the "Afro-Creole counterculture religion of southern Louisiana". It was influenced heavily by

39277-463: The religion. In August 1850, about fifty women, several of whom were white, were arrested at a Voodoo dance ceremony; they were subsequently fined. In 1855 a mob attempted to seize a practitioner, Elizabeth Sutherland, who they accused of putting spells on people; the local police gave her shelter at the station. During the American Civil War , the Union Army occupied New Orleans and sought to suppress Voodoo. In 1863, forty women were arrested at

39494-404: The right to carry arms and boosting their earning power. However, actually these privileges distanced free Black men from enslaved Blacks and encouraged them to identify with Whites. Slavery had been tacitly enshrined in the US Constitution through provisions such as Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, commonly known as the 3/5 compromise . Due to the restrictions of Section 9, Clause 1 , Congress

39711-422: The similar cultural practices of Mardi Gras Indians and West Africans in the music, polyrhythms, and regalia. She says: "I would say this tradition is an African-American community neighborhood-based tradition that often uses a Native American motif, which includes the feather headdresses and beadwork. But basically, everything else about it is West African." The tradition is male-dominated, and women struggle to have

39928-427: The slave trade brought its survivors together with a sense of solidarity and initiation. The absence of fragmentation in the enslaved community, along with the kinship system produced by the bond created by the difficulties of slavery, resulted in a "coherent, functional, well-integrated, autonomous, and self-confident enslaved community." The practice of making and wearing charms and amulets for protection, healing, or

40145-456: The slaves who had not escaped returned to the Island of Hispaniola , whence they had come. The marriage between Luisa de Abrego, a free Black domestic servant from Seville , and Miguel Rodríguez, a White Segovian conquistador in 1565 in St. Augustine (Spanish Florida), is the first known and recorded Christian marriage anywhere in what is now the continental United States. The first recorded Africans in English America (including most of

40362-541: The south in large numbers seeking better opportunities and treatment in the west and north, a movement known as the Great Migration , there is now a reverse trend, called the New Great Migration . As with the earlier Great Migration, the New Great Migration is primarily directed toward cities and large urban areas, such as Charlotte , Houston , Dallas , Fort Worth , Huntsville , Raleigh , Tampa , San Antonio , New Orleans , Memphis , Nashville , Jacksonville , and so forth. A growing percentage of African Americans from

40579-400: The spelling Voodoo is now the most popular term for this tradition, variant spellings have been used over the years; alternatives have included Voudou and Vaudou . The spelling Voodoo is sometimes used for the Louisiana practice to distinguish it from Haitian Vodou . In some sources, practitioners are referred to as Voodoos themselves, and elsewhere as Voodooists . A related term

40796-507: The spirits. Offerings will be given to the spirits. Contemporary Voodoo rites often entail calling spirits to enter the body of a practitioner, through which they can heal or confer blessings. The possessed individual will be called the "horse". Practitioners sometimes performed rituals to deal with specific issues; in August 1995, Voodoo practitioners held a ritual in the Bywater area of New Orleans to try to drive away crack cocaine abuse, burglaries, prostitution, and assaults, while in 2001

41013-422: The spiritualist movement was active in New Orleans as early as 1852 to 1853. According to authors Judith Bettelheim and Stephen Wehmeyer, since the beginning of the American spiritualist movement in the 19th century, the imagery of Native Americans in the beliefs and practices of American spiritualists were associated with the movement. Bettelheim and Wehmeyer suggest that American Indian images were incorporated into

41230-421: The streets of New Orleans during the Reconstruction era . Masking Indians honor the help given their ancestors by Native Americans who took runaway enslaved people into their tribes by incorporating American Indian symbols into their carnivals. They add animals Native Americans hold sacred beaded into their regalia and pay homage to Indigenous people for helping their ancestors escape from slavery. An article from

41447-528: The streets of North Claiborne Avenue, North Robertson and Annette. The dances and songs of Mardi Gras Indians have spiritual meanings. Funerals in Black neighborhoods in New Orleans are attended by Mardi Gras Indians. Black Americans put on their suits and play Mardi Gras Indian jazz to celebrate the life of the person who died. These Mardi Gras Indian jazz funerals have intense drumming, dancing, and call-and-response . Although Black people in New Orleans masks as Native Americans their culture, drumming, and music

41664-519: The streets of their ward or gang." These are African Americans who "mask" as Native Americans. Some Mardi Gras Indians describe their decorative aesthetic as their culture and religion . Other Black maskers do not mask as Native Americans but as orisha spirits from the Yoruba religion and Skull and Bones gangs. Their tradition is rooted in African-American spirituality and Black culture. The suits (regalia), dances, songs, drumbeats, and celebrations performed convey spiritual and cultural meanings about

41881-420: The suits and flags. Mardi Gras Indians perform healing rituals during their street performances to unite and heal communities. Historian Richard Brent Turner says that Central African cultures from Bakongo peoples, Haitian carnivals , and Black American culture blended at Congo Square that are expressed in their regalia and music. Curator and author Paulette Richards suggests that masquerade performances in

42098-423: The suits made by Black people in New Orleans are original creations, and not imitations from entertainment shows. Author and poet Kalamu ya Salaam argues that the Mardi Gras Indians were formed before the wild west shows of the 1880s. Salaam cites other examples of carnivals and festivals in the Caribbean during the era of enslavement that were similar to New Orleans Black masking Indian performances. Also, in 1781

42315-442: The suits of Mardi Gras Indians. Mardi Gras Indians dislike this interpretation because "...it emphasizes imitation over originality and agency, attributing what they consider a sacred tradition to a cheap form of entertainment that exploited rather than honored Native Americans." In addition, this interpretation does not see this cultural tradition created from syncretic blends of Native American, African, and Caribbean cultures. Many of

42532-677: The system's worst elements. First established in South Carolina in 1704, groups of armed White men— slave patrols —were formed to monitor enslaved Black people. Their function was to police slaves, especially fugitives. Slave owners feared that slaves might organize revolts or slave rebellions , so state militias were formed to provide a military command structure and discipline within the slave patrols. These patrols were used to detect, encounter, and crush any organized slave meetings which might lead to revolts or rebellions . The earliest African American congregations and churches were organized before 1800 in both northern and southern cities following

42749-413: The term "Voodoo Feminism" to describe instances whereby African American women drew upon both Louisiana Voodoo and conjure to resist racial and gender oppression that they experienced. Michelle Gordon believed that the fact that free women of color dominated Voodoo in the 19th century represented a direct threat to the ideological foundations of " white supremacy and patriarchy." There are four phases to

42966-431: The total population, declined until 1930 and has been rising since then. By 1990, the African American population reached about 30 million and represented 12% of the US population, roughly the same proportion as in 1900. At the time of the 2000 US census , 54.8% of African Americans lived in the South . In that year, 17.6% of African Americans lived in the Northeast and 18.7% in the Midwest , while only 8.9% lived in

43183-638: The tradition came to New Orleans by way of Caribbean and African cultures where the dead are honored in the Haitian Vodou religion. Skull and Bones masker, Bruce "Sunpie" Barnes, traveled to Africa and said he saw skeleton-like spirits and Voodoo markets. During Mardi Gras, Barnes recognizes the Guédé , a family of spirits in Haitian Vodou that are guardians of the cemetery. Skull and Bones gangs act as spiritual town guardians and carnival town criers. Jazz historian John McCusker found skeleton maskers were referenced in archives dating back to 1875. A 1902 local newspaper, Times-Democrat , referenced young Black maskers on

43400-431: The traditional African religions brought to the region, predominantly from West Central Africa and Senegambia , before later also being influenced by the Haitian Vodou . The religion emerged along the Mississippi River valley, and especially in the city of New Orleans, in the 18th and early 19th century before fading out in the early 20th century. The historical record for Voodoo is fragmentary, with much knowledge of

43617-455: The west and north are migrating to the southern region of the US for economic and cultural reasons. The New York City , Chicago , and Los Angeles metropolitan areas have the highest decline in African Americans, while Atlanta , Dallas , and Houston have the highest increase respectively. Several smaller metro areas also saw sizable gains, including San Antonio; Raleigh and Greensboro, N.C.; and Orlando. Despite recent declines, as of 2020,

43834-543: Was $ 5,600 (equivalent to $ 58,532 in 2023), compared with $ 2,900 (equivalent to $ 30,311 in 2023) for non-White families. In 1965, 43 percent of all Black families fell into the poverty bracket, earning under $ 3,000 (equivalent to $ 29,005 in 2023) a year. The 1960s saw improvements in the social and economic conditions of many Black Americans. From 1965 to 1969, Black family income rose from 54 to 60 percent of White family income. In 1968, 23 percent of Black families earned under $ 3,000 (equivalent to $ 26,285 in 2023)

44051-401: Was a Whites-only establishment, with Blacks (such as Duke Ellington ) allowed to perform, but to a White audience. Black Americans also found a new ground for political power in Northern cities, without the enforced disabilities of Jim Crow . By the 1950s, the civil rights movement was gaining momentum. A 1955 lynching that sparked public outrage about injustice was that of Emmett Till ,

44268-460: Was a cultural center for African music and dance ; the city was also a major southern trade port that became a cultural melting pot. New Orleans was more open-minded than many Southern cities, and on Sundays enslaved African people gathered to sing folk songs, play traditional music, and dance. The lively parties were recounted by a Northern observer as being "indescribable... Never will you see gayer countenances, demonstrations of more forgetfulness of

44485-399: Was a settlement known as Natanapalle of armed freedom seekers and Indigenous peoples. According to various authors, freedom seekers adapted some of the culture of Native Americans. Whites in Louisiana feared an alliance of Africans and Indigenous people growing in the swamps and bayous. In 1729, 280 enslaved Africans joined forces with Natchez people during the " Natchez Revolt ." The revolt

44702-425: Was also a deity called Samunga, called upon by practitioners in Missouri when they were collecting mud. The Voodoo revival of the late 20th century has drawn many of its deities from Haitian Vodou, where these divinities are called lwa [ 43 ] . Among the lwa commonly venerated are Erzulie Freda Ezili la Flambo, Ogoun, Mara, and Papa Legba. These can be divided into separate nanchon (nations), such as

44919-426: Was associated with good fortune, while Monsieur Agoussou or Vert Agoussou was associated with love. Vériquité was a spirit associated with the causing of illness, while Monsieur d'Embarass was linked to death. Charlo was a child deity. The names of several other deities are recorded, but with little known about their associations, including Jean Macouloumba, who was also known as Colomba; Maman You; and Yon Sue. There

45136-503: Was brought to the United States during the transatlantic slave trade, and African Americans into the twentieth century performed animal blood sacrifices at the crossroads. Eshu-Elegba became the crossroads spirit or the man of the crossroads in Voodoo. Animal sacrifice has become a rare practice in the African American community. However, animal sacrifice was documented well into the late nineteenth century and into mid-twentieth century. For example, animal sacrifices are sometimes done at

45353-399: Was called, spanned the 1890s to the 1970s. From 1916 through the 1960s, more than 6 million Black people moved north. But in the 1970s and 1980s, that trend reversed , with more African Americans moving south to the Sun Belt than leaving it. The following table of the African American population in the United States over time shows that the African American population, as a percentage of

45570-425: Was carried out to prevent French colonists from taking Natchez land for tobacco production. During the revolt, the Natchez killed almost all of the 150 Frenchmen at Fort Rosalie, and only about 20 managed to escape, some fleeing to New Orleans. The Natchez spared the enslaved Africans; many were locked inside a house on the bluff, guarded by several warriors, from where they could see the events. Some scholars argue that

45787-450: Was colonized by the Spanish and they trafficked Yoruba people to the island for enslaved labor. Enslaved Yoruba people's masquerade culture of Egungun syncretized with New Orleans enslaved communities further contributing to the Mardi Gras Indian culture. The cultural influences of Yoruba people are prevalent in the Americas as Egungun masquerade celebrations influenced Black carnivals and costume making in African descended communities in

46004-443: Was hailed by the Daily Picayune as "the people's choice". There was at least one black cowboy in the show, and there were numerous black cowhands. According to author Michael Smith, the Buffalo Soldiers who fought the Plains Indians could have returned to New Orleans and competed in Wild West shows and carnivals. On Mardi Gras in 1885, 50 to 60 Plains Indians marched in native dress on the streets of New Orleans. Later that year, it

46221-424: Was not a stable society when the enslaved sub-Saharan Africans arrived, and the newly arrived sub-Saharan Africans dominated the slave community. According to a census of 1731–1732, the ratio of enslaved sub-Saharan Africans to European settlers was more than two to one. A relatively small number of colonists were planters and slaveholders, owners of sugar plantations with work that required large labor forces. Because

46438-413: Was similar to slavery. Servants could be bought, sold, or leased, and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or attempting to running away. Unlike slaves, they were freed after their term of service expired or if their freedom was purchased. Their children did not inherit their status, and on their release from contract they received "a year's provision of corn, double apparel, tools necessary", and

46655-808: Was surrounded by swamps, bayous, and rivers resulting in a number of maroon settlements. In Louisiana, the road to freedom on the Underground Railroad for the enslaved went south to maroon camps because traveling to northern free territories and Canada were too far for freedom seekers. These maroon camps attacked whites, stole cattle from nearby farms for food, and freed nearby enslaved people, and freedom seekers escaped and lived with other maroons. The maroons lived in huts and grew their own food of corn, squash, rice, and herbs. African culture thrived in maroon communities, and some were located near Native American villages. Native Americans helped maroons and freedom seekers by providing food and weapons to defend themselves from whites and slave catchers . In colonial Louisiana, there

46872-414: Was unable to pass an Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves until 1807. Fugitive slave laws (derived from the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution— Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 ) were passed by Congress in both 1793 and 1850 , guaranteeing the right of a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave anywhere within the US. Slave owners, who viewed enslaved people as property, ensured that it became

47089-456: Was where West-Central African culture blended with Native American culture. In its beginning, they decorated their ornaments with pearls, rhinestones, turkey feathers, fish scales, discarded beads, and sequins—along with their brightly colored ostrich feather headdresses, these can weigh over 150 pounds. Over the years, their suits became more elaborate and colorful and incorporated cultural elements from Africa. In its early history, they resembled

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