“Jockomo: The Native Roots of Mardi Gras Indians" (YouTube Zoom Discussion With Some Quotes & Paraphrased Discussion)

Louisiana State Museums, Jan 12, 2021

The Louisiana State Museum presented “Jockomo: The Native Roots of Mardi Gras Indians" with Shane Lief on Thursday, November 12, 2020 at 6pm via Zoom. This is a recording of that lecture. "Jockomo: The Native Roots of Mardi Gras Indians" celebrates the transcendent experience of Mardi Gras, encompassing both ancient and current traditions of New Orleans.

The Mardi Gras Indians are a renowned and beloved fixture of New Orleans public culture. Yet very little is known about the indigenous roots of their cultural practices. For the first time, this book explores the Native American ceremonial traditions that influenced the development of the Mardi Gras Indian cultural system. Jockomo reveals the complex story of exchanges that have taken place over the past three centuries, generating new ways of singing and speaking, with many languages mixing as people’s lives overlapped.

Contemporary photographs by John McCusker and archival images combine to offer a complementary narrative to the text. From the depictions of eighteenth-century Native American musical processions to the first known photo of Mardi Gras Indians, Jockomo is a visual feast, displaying the evolution of cultural traditions throughout the history of New Orleans.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Mardi Gras Indians had become a recognized local tradition. Over the course of the next one hundred years, their unique practices would move from the periphery to the very center of public consciousness as a quintessentially New Orleanian form of music and performance, even while retaining some of the most ancient features of Native American culture and language. Jockomo offers a new way of seeing and hearing the blended legacies of New Orleans

****
Edited by Azizi Powell
 
Latest revision- May 3, 2023

This pancocojams post presents information about John McCusker's and Shane Lief's 2019 book Jockomo: The Native Roots of Mardi Gras Indians".

This post presents my editorial note about the meaning of "masking" as it refers to the Mardi Gras Indians.

This pancocojams post also showcases a YouTube Zoom discussion about that book with the authors of that book and other participants. Some time stamped quotes and my paraphrased examples of some of that discussion are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the Mardi Gras Indians, and thanks to John McCusker and Shane Lief, the authors of this book. Thank also to the Louisiana State Museum for sponsoring and hosting this Zoom discussion and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this Zoom discussion on YouTube.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/05/are-mardi-gras-indians-appropriating.html for a closely related pancocojams post entitled "Are Mardi Gras Indians Appropriating Native American Cultures? (video and comments)".

Other pancocojams post about Mardi Gras Indians can be found by clicking the tags below or by googling Mardi Gras Indians pancocojams.

****

WHAT DOES "MASKING" MEAN FOR BLACK MASKING INDIANS (also known as "Mardi Gras Indians)?

The Mardi Gras Indians are also known as "Black masking Indians". Based on some YouTube discussion thread comments that I have read, since around 2020 "Black Masking Indians" appears to be the referent that is most favored by this population. 

In the context of the Black masking Indians", the word "masking" comes from the word "masquerade".

Here's a definition of the word "masquerade" from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/masquerade :

"a social gathering of persons wearing masks and often fantastic costumes"
-end of quote-

During New Orleans Mardi Gras, ",,,carnival groups create a collective identity through costuming". https://lsupress.org/books/detail/baby-dolls/#:~:text=The%20Baby%20Dolls%20formed%20around,Black%20prostitutes%20on%20Mardi%20Gras.

 "Masking" for Black masking Indians means wearing costumes that evoke [for them and their onlookers] Plains Indian ceremonial attire and/or West African ceremonial and Caribbean [carnival] attire.

One phrase that appears to be used for Mardi Gras Indian masking is "playing Indian". Here's an example of that phrase from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY2E7hqBDbI "New Orleans Mardi Gras Day 2017 9th Ward Black Hatchets"

Chatawbraves, 2017,
"I LIKE TO SEE EVERYBODY PLAY INDIAN ECPECIALLY THE QUEEN'S YESS YESS  ! ALL QUEEN'S FROM  BOTH TRIBES PLAYED THEIR ROLE YESS YESS !"...
-end of quote-
In the context of Mardi Gras Indians, "playing Indian" means to dress like Plains Indians dressed during a period of time when those Indians-and not the Indians who lived in Louisiana wore feathered head dresses. Read https://www.quora.com/Did-all-Native-Americans-wear-feathers for comments about when Plains Indians wore feathers.

Here's an excerpt from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras_Indians about the history of Black people from New Orleans encounters with Plains Indians: 

As a major southern trade port, New Orleans became a cultural melting pot.

During 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.[2] 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.[2] The show wintered in New Orleans from 1884 to 1885 and 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.[4]

On Mardi Gras in 1885, 50 to 60 Plains Indians marched in native dress on the streets of New Orleans. Later that year, it 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.[2] 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.”[5]"...
-snip-
"Playing Indian" doesn't mean that these roles weren't (aren't) taking seriously. The 2022 YouTube video entitled https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gx2WDAPwX4 "It's Your Glory -The Queens Of Carnival" includes this statement beginning at .28 from Queen Cherise Harrison-Nelson (Guardians of the Flame) :

"This tradition is a way for me to connect myself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually back to my ancestral homeland one bead at a time. You tried to sever those ties. But I found a way".
-snip-
In that quote, the phrase "my ancestral homeland" refers to Africa. The Guardians of the Flame" Mardi Gras Indian tribe is one that emphasizes their members' African ancestry. For the Black masking Indians that emphasize their Native American connections (through their bloodlines and/or as homage to Native Americans for helping enslaved people who fled slavery) Queen Cherise Harrison-Nelson's quote might be "This tradition is a way for me to connect myself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually back to my Native American ancestors and/or to Native Americans who helped those ancestors one bead at a time."    

This quote from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras_Indians refers to the ranked characters in Mardi Gras Indian groups:
..."The Mardi Gras Indians play various traditional roles. Many blocks ahead of the Indians are plain clothed informants keeping an eye out for any danger. The procession begins with "spyboys," dressed in light "running suits" that allow them the freedom to move quickly in case of emergency.[2] Next comes the "first flag," an ornately dressed Indian carrying a token tribe flag.[2] Closest to the "Big Chief" is the "Wildman" who usually carries a symbolic weapon.[2] Finally, there is the "Big Chief." The "Big Chief" decides where to go and which tribes to meet (or ignore). The entire group is followed by percussionists and revelers.[2]"...

-end of quote-

[Addition and corrections are welcome for this explanation.]

****

REVIEW OF THE BOOK JOCKOMO-NATIVE ROOTS OF MARDI GRAS INDIANS

https://www.amazon.com/Jockomo-Native-Roots-Mardi-Indians/dp/1496825896

"Jockomo: The Native Roots of Mardi Gras Indians celebrates the transcendent experience of Mardi Gras, encompassing both ancient and current traditions of New Orleans. The Mardi Gras Indians are a renowned and beloved fixture of New Orleans public culture. Yet very little is known about the indigenous roots of their cultural practices. For the first time, this book explores the Native American ceremonial traditions that influenced the development of the Mardi Gras Indian cultural system. Jockomo reveals the complex story of exchanges that have taken place over the past three centuries, generating new ways of singing and speaking, with many languages mixing as people’s lives overlapped. 

Contemporary photographs by John McCusker and archival images combine to offer a complementary narrative to the text. From the depictions of eighteenth-century Native American musical processions to the first known photo of Mardi Gras Indians, Jockomo is a visual feast, displaying the evolution of cultural traditions throughout the history of New Orleans.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Mardi Gras Indians had become a recognized local tradition. Over the course of the next one hundred years, their unique practices would move from the periphery to the very center of public consciousness as a quintessentially New Orleanian form of music and performance, even while retaining some of the most ancient features of Native American culture and language. Jockomo offers a new way of seeing and hearing the blended legacies of New Orleans.

Editorial Reviews

[...]

Lief and McCusker have produced a book that celebrates the tradition from the perspective of insiders and outside observers without privileging either side to the detriment of the other―a diplomatic feat of the first order. This book is a masterpiece and will revolutionize the field. -- Bruce Raeburn, curator emeritus of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University and author of New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History

The authors masterfully lay out a historical account of the origins of New Orleans Mardi Gras and the participation of the Indians and other black masking cultures. -- Dow Michael Edwards, aka “Spyboy Dow,” retired partner in the law firm of Irwin Fritchie Urquhart & Moore LLC and member of the Mohawk Hunters Mardi Gras Indian tribe."

 ****
TIME STAMPED QUOTES AND PARAPHRASED DISCUSSIONS FROM THE EMBEDDED ZOOM VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lzfqyHVd6k

35.20 first photo of Mardi Gras Indians 1903

**
around 47:41 in this video- the founders of the Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans were all veterans of the Civil War…

**
time stamp-around  1:03.52 viewer question- "Would you please elaborate about connection between Mardi Gras Indians and specific tribes." 

around 1:04.35 - Shane Lief's response:
"Native people have been making music in the street and people responding to it throughout the entire New Orleans history of all people hearing each other and responding to each other and incorporating that into their cultures.

1:04:56 - Shane Lief's response:
"In Louisiana you have all of these people both White and Black, but certainly in the Black community, people of Native ancestry, who it would be really hard to know necessarily what their tribal affiliations are. This isn’t to say that they don’t know…Some of them do. But specific tribal affiliations are quite hard to trace for a variety of reasons.”

But I would say that in terms of connections to Native Americans, it is there, not just in terms of their connections to family legacies, but the fact that you had Native people in New Orleans making music in the streets and people responding to that over the entire history of New Orleans. And once again we’re kinda blinded by assumptions that we have that somehow there was a time when all of a sudden Native Americans were no longer here or something like that. They’ve always been present. They’re always here …the processions in the street, people are hearing that and responding to that and incorporating that into their own musical traditions…So all these people were hearing each other and responding to each other. So in turns of Native Americans’ musical culture being a part of the city-it’s always been there. It’s just not as well documented and well recorded in various ways."

[The following comments are in response to a woman commenter's questions about the Mardi Gras Indian's Native American connections. [i.e. whether the Mardi Gras Indians blended Native American culture as one element of New Orleans Creole blending and whether Mardi Gras Indians were actually a part of an Indian "nation" or "tribe" [these references are her words]. She also mentioned that this Mardi Gras Indian blending occurred when the Plains Indians [who wore elaborate feathered headdresses] were being highlighted by mainstream American media instead of other Native Americans]. That woman said something to the effect that they [Mardi Gras Indians] could have called themselves “Mardi Gras Pirates” instead of Mardi Gras Indians, but that word “Indians” is there. What does Indians mean?"

1:00:05 - John McCusker's response
…”Leaving off blood lines and DNA,…if we just go directly to “Why would an African American person in post-Reconstruction New Orleans -meaning 1878- choose on Mardi Gras to costume as an American Indian.   What’s going on around that time?...So what better way-and I’m definitely not one of those people that likes to make Black culture reactions to White people-but in terms of just personal pride, what better character, what character to take on then one who was in active armed conflict with the United States government.   You feel me on that? You are an uniquely American figure, but you were in armed conflict with the United States of American. Sounds like a fellow traveler. So it’s not about- I know there is still a lot of tension about is this a mimicry, is this a pantomime, is this really just a minstrelsy of Indians. But I think if you look at it in the context of the spirit of why those men first masked and would have dressed that way and chosen to conduct- It’s not just the costume, it’s ritualistic almost combative dance…and early on this was defending your neighborhood-…there was shooting, all kind of stories. People ended up in jail….So this was all about identity and pride and Mardi Gras being the vehicle perhaps to be that fellow traveler as a resistance figure"

1:12.15- Shane Leif's response:
"One thing I’d like to add is that it’s not just the symbolism that we’re talking about, so to speak to your question about tribal affiliation vs. ancestry, I think that the difficulty there was that people were being told that they were one thing, and they’re actually many things.  In some cases, they may not have known and they may not know just like people with African ancestry won’t always know exactly where all the tribal affiliations or earlier affiliations their ancestors had…The reason why it’s so difficult is that the documentation is lacking there…But I think that the authenticity we might seek from someone who say has lighter skin and who is European American who makes claims about where they are from, the onus is a bit different than on someone who is African American who has a different history of being told that they’re not who they claim to be…For a long time people were told that you’re either this or you’re that. But there’s actually both at the same time. “

1:13:50 -John McCusker's response
"Also, you had whole tribes that were actually wiped out….And like Shane said, it’s never one way or the other. …But among the stories that I read, they talk a lot about Eugene Honore in the book. Eugene Honore was 7ft tall. His father fought in the Civil War. He lived in the French Quarter.  And he’s credited by at least a couple of guys as the composer of “Indian Red” [song]. They said that he was mainly-whatever that means-Choctaw Indian and that they called his mom “Miss Choctaw”. And sometimes Eugene would disappear for weeks and go stay somewhere out by Baton Rouge…But it’s not either/or like Shane said. You can have both at the same time, or neither or not."

1:15: 32- Shane Lief's response: -" And there are examples [cites another person with proven Choctaw ancestry], but the main point is that tribal ancestry is there and for such a long time people were assuming that it was merely a representation of [Native Americans]."

[Paraphrased question- Another woman participant asked about the [rather widely used] theory that Mardi Gras Indians were formed to honor Native Americans who took in runaway slaves.

1:16:40- Shane Lief's response:
"Sure, that’s true but it’s also such a mixed record in terms of who was doing what for whom because a lot of times there were native allies of the French who would actually track down run away slaves too. So it’s impossible to say this is what the relationship was between this group and that group of people based on something as broad as being Native or having African American ancestry. And it depends on the decade too. Of course, that happened as well, what you describing in terms of communities that were thrown in together and survived together.” That happened.”…

.****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.