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Human Gumbo and All Its Glory: Taking a Look at Black Culture and Mardi Gras Indians in the Face of Erasure

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Human Gumbo and All Its Glory: Taking a Look at Black Culture and Mardi Gras Indians in the Face of Erasure Bard College Bard Digital Commons Senior Projects Spring 2017 Bard Undergraduate Senior Projects Spring 2017 Human Gumbo and all its Glory: taking a look at black culture and mardi gras indians in the face of erasure Jayde Tyranique Davis Bard College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2017 Part of the African American Studies Commons, African History Commons, American Popular Culture Commons, and the Cultural History Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Davis, Jayde Tyranique, "Human Gumbo and all its Glory: taking a look at black culture and mardi gras indians in the face of erasure" (2017). Senior Projects Spring 2017. 189. https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2017/189 This Open Access work is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been provided to you by Bard College's Stevenson Library with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this work in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Human Gumbo and all its Glory: Taking a Look at Black Culture and Mardi Gras Indians in the Face of Erasure. Senior Project Submitted to The Division of Social Studies Of Bard College By Jayde Tyranique Davis Annandale-on-Hudson, New York May 2017 Acknowledgements I would like to say thank you to everyone who supported me throughout my four years at Bard. I would like to thank Donna Grover and Peter Klein for being amazing professors and advisors. Thank you so much for encouraging me to write about something that I am truly passionate about. Thank you for the wonderful support when I needed it the most. This has been a tough year and your words of encouragement and help I wouldn’t have made it. I would like to thank my Parents for being there for me throughout this whole journey. I couldn’t have done this without you and your money. I love you and this Degree will be presented to you as an appreciation for being wonder supportive people in my life. Mom your tough love paid off because you now have a child who is a college Graduate. Daddy I will always be your plump little girl and your twin. I love you both with all my heart I would like to give credit where credit is due. I thank God for everything you’ve done in my life. I wouldn’t have made it without you. I’ve had such a challenging college experience, but I know you only give your toughest battles to your strongest soldiers. Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………….…………………1 Chapter 1………………………………………………………………………………………….5 Chapter 2…..……………………………………………………………………………………..22 Chapter 3…..……………………………………………………………………………………..49 Conclusion…..…………………………………………………………………………………...59 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..63 1 Life in New Orleans hasn’t been a walk in the park. I survived being trapped in a Nursing home with dead bodies surrounding me; I’ve been displaced from my family and moved to California. Since I can remember I’ve been the backbone for my family I didn’t plan on coming to college because I dint know who was going to take care of my family while I would be in school. I’ve recently dealt with the death of my uncle and my brother, I’ve had recent complications with my health that has caused me to become ill, and dealing with all of this and not being able to go home is painful, but I know that home is the last place I should be. Every time I go home it seems that I get constantly weighed down. With all of this going on I still seem to love my city even though it doesn’t love me back. I can’t seem to back away from her because although she gave me some harsh memories the good ones outweigh the bad. New Orleans is my home, New Orleans is my identity, and New Orleans is me. “An Ode to New Orleans” I can’t seem to stay away from her. I guess the music that I hear while walking in the French quarter soothes my aching soul. The sweet people with great spirits make me smile, and the amazing food just warms my body. Its something about her that I cant put my finger on. She feels like a drug that I can’t rid my body of. I’ve tried so many times to hate this place but my heart knows where I belong. From the rich accents of my people to the different shades of brown I see everyday. She is so rich with culture and soul that I can’t see myself without her. 2 It breaks my heart to see her being erased right in front of me. These foul people are stripping her of her roots and taking away her memories/ culture. They are making her something she is not meant to be. It only took one time for her to fall apart so that the savages could come and claim her. They sold her off like a slave at an auction block. She deserves none of this cruel treatment. Every time I visit her I see her aching and in pain, I see her quickly losing her identity. The people that took care of her before can’t seem to manage the upkeep. She became a hot commodity. When I visit you now you’re so unrecognizable. I really miss you old girl, but I know that all good things must come to an end. I will always remember the memories you gave me. Farewell ole’ gal you’ve been good to me. I’m saying goodbye because I know that I’ve seen better, I’m saying goodbye because I’ve ventured out of my comfort zone, I’m saying goodbye because I can’t always be dependent on you. The pain and heartache that it took to get back to you shows you are loved. Some may say that a city can’t have this much of an influence on a person, but it does. Its been over 12 years since Hurricane has hit he city of New Orleans and it seems that from personal opinion that we all have our different ideas of what we see New Orleans as or what we see the future New Orleans as. We have seen major issues that have been the downfall/ downhill of New Orleans culture. The black culture specifically. Some issues that arise when we start to talk about the erasure of black culture is the fact that an age old tradition in New Orleans is being chewed up, spat out, and stomped on by the officials that run the city, the police departments and millennial. The issues that has to arise before we can talk about how the Mardi Gras Indians have been in the face of erasure is what evidently led to this problem in the beginning. 3 In a post Katrina society we see that the devastation of New Orleans has ultimately shifted the balance of things and has pushed and pulled people in and out of the city. Some of the major issues that we face is the fact that there isn’t affordable housing left in New Orleans so the old residents, culture bearers, and natives are struggling to support themselves in their own city. We also see that gentrification has taken over the city and it’s not the same New Orleans as it was Pre Katrina. We see a development of fancy grocery stores, pastry and coffee shops, beautification projects, a shift in how the French quarter looks and the fact that in this “new” New Orleans we see that people are getting a little too comfortable with appropriating not only black culture, but also New Orleans black culture. As I delve into the history of the Mardi Gras Indians in my Project I can’t help but notice there has been a tug and a push to either keep this tradition in the city that dates back to slaves and how we honor Native American for helping us to freedom. We are lacking the knowledge that stops us from debating if we should be allowed to parade in the streets like the white people do and not get harassed in the street. If we knew how important this culture/ tradition was, we would be honoring it not debating about it. I believe that in the formation of the “new” New Orleans individuals feel too comfortable imitating that culture we have put in place before they even started migrating to the city and taking over. These new comers have tried to mimic the Mardi Gras Indian costume to the point where each suit now has to be trademarked, and have recently filled a lawsuit against a racist club that perpetuates that idea that its ok to mock African culture of the ZULU tribe and see if they can make their own. In a failed attempt they embarrassed themselves and are now facing a major lawsuit. Not all things in New Orleans have gone downhill. We still see a strong art presence 4 in New Orleans with every event/ festival gives the opportunity for local artist to sell their work and display them in museums. We have a strong presence of youth now who have taken interest in becoming artist because we as a city is very supportive of the arts in New Orleans compared to pre Katrina.
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