Our History, Black History: Mardi Gras Indians

There’s an old adage, “You never know where you are going unless you know where you have been.” In the spirit of Black history month, the Monroe Dispatch will highlight stories and history of Black people that are not commonly known. Much of Black history is preserved through oral storytelling, which is passed down from generation to generation. The story of the Mardi Gras Indians reflects the layered history between Louisiana’s Black population and the Indigenous people of North America. In the early 1700s, some Blacks fled highly populated areas of our state, moving to and through the bayous...