The original inhabitants of Louisiana were Native Americans who lived here long before the Europeans set foot on the land that became known as Louisiana.  There were several tribes of Native Americans including the Bayougoula, Acolapissa, Choctaw, Chitimacha, Natchez, Chickasaw, Houma, and Tunica-Biloxi who hunted and farmed in the marsh grass of the prairies and lived along the rivers and bayous.

In her excavations in the French Quarter, archaeologist Shannon Dawdy discovered pottery from the 17th century, which indicates that the “site known as New Orleans was occupied by Native Americas at least five hundred years ago. One group had an encampment on the very spot where the French cleared the river cane to set out a regular grid of streets—now called the Vieux Carré, or French Quarter” (Rees, p. 273). 

Therefore, I definitely think that the Native Americans should be included as one of the cultures to be celebrated in the exhibition, especially since they influenced several other cultures that settled in their lands after the Europeans came to the state.

On Saturday, November 21, I went to the 49th Annual Louisiana Indian Heritage Association Pow Pow in Gonzales that celebrates the Native American cultures in Louisiana and their continued contributions to the state.

Sources

Rees, Mark A. and Ian W. Brown, eds. (2010). Archaeology of Louisiana. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.