Houma people

The Houma (/ˈhoʊmə/) are a historic Native American people of Louisiana on

the east side of the Red River of the South. Their descendants, the Houma
people or organization "The United Houma Nation", have been recognized by
the state as a tribe since 1972 and not yet by the federal government.[1]

Houma

United Houma Nation flag

Total population

10,837 registered (2010, US Census)

Regions with significant populations

 United States (  Louisiana)

Languages

English, French, Louisiana French; formerly Houma

Related ethnic groups

Choctaw and other Muscogeean peoples; Louisiana Creole people

According to the tribe, they have about 17,000 enrolled tribal citizens residing
within a six-parish area that encompasses 4,750 square miles. The six
parishes are the following: St. Mary, Terrebonne, Lafourche, Jefferson,
Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes.

The city of Houma (meaning "red"), and the Red River were both named after
this people. Oklahoma shares a similar etymology, as the root humma means
"red" in Choctaw and related Western Muskogean languages, including
Houma.[2]

Language
 Houma

Region Louisiana

Extinct 19th century

Language family Muskogean

Western Muskogean
Houma

Language codes

ISO 639-3 None ( mis )

Linguist List 07n

Glottolog None

The Indigenous Houma language is thought to have fallen out of use by the
late 19th century due to European-American encroachment. As a result of a
language shift which began during the French colonial period and trading in
Louisiana, a majority of Houma people today speak Louisiana French.
American English is also widely spoken by the community. Additionally, in light
of their distinct society and isolated geography, as many as 3,000 mostly
elderly people living on Houma tribal lands in the Lafourche Basin are believed
to be monolingual speakers of French.[3]

In 1907, Swanton interviewed an elderly Houma woman to collect vocabulary

from her Houma language. More recently, efforts have been made to collect
vocabulary and grammar from elders in order to revitalize the language.[4] As
Houma has been identified as being very similar to standard Choctaw, some
linguists have concluded that the Houma spoke a Western Muskogean
language (akin to Choctaw or Chickasaw). Other scholars have suggested that
the data in Swanton's vocabulary is Mobilian Jargon. Some unidentified words
may be from other languages spoken on the Mississippi. The Tunica referred
to the Mobilian Jargon as húma ʼúlu (meaning "Houma's language").

Today, efforts continue to bring the Houma language back to its people
through a group of dedicated Houma persons and linguists, the Houma
Language Project.[5]

Ethnobotany
The Houma people take a decoction of dried Gamochaeta purpurea for colds
and influenza.[6] They make an infusion of the leaves and root of Cirsium
horridulum in whiskey, and use it as an astringent, as well as drink it to clear
phlegm from lungs and throat. They also eat the tender, white hearts of the
plant raw.[6]

History

Origins

The Houma tribe, thought to be Muskogean-speaking like other Choctaw

tribes, was recorded by the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La
Salle, in 1682 as living along the Red River on the east side of Mississippi
River.[7] Because their war emblem is the saktce-ho'ma, or Red Crawfish, the
anthropologist John R. Swanton speculated that the Houma are an offshoot of
the Yazoo River region's Chakchiuma tribe, whose name derives from saktce-
ho'ma.[8]

Individuals in the tribe maintained contact with other Choctaw communities

after settling in present-day lower Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. They
used the waterways to harvest fish and crawfish, as well as to supply their
water needs and for traveling. It is not certain how the Houma came to settle
near the mouth of the Red River (formerly called the River of the Houma). By
the time of French exploration, the Houma were settled at the site of present-
day Angola, Louisiana.

French era

In 1682 the French explorer Brinson noted in his journal that he had passed
near the village of the Oumas. This brief mention marks the entry of the
Houma into written recorded history. Later explorers, such as Henri de Tonti
and Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, give a fuller description of the early Houma.
Iberville reported the Houma village to be some six to eight miles inland from
the east bank of the Mississippi near the mouth of the Red River.

When the Europeans arrived in greater number in the area, they struggled with
the language differences among the Native Americans. They thought each
Native American settlement represented a different tribe and made errors in
their designations of the peoples as a result. The Bayogoula people were, like
the Houma, related to and descendants of the Choctaw. In historic times,
several bands of Choctaw migrated into the Louisiana area. Descendants
today are known as the Jena, Clifton, and Lacombe bands while some, such as
the Houma, Bayougoula, and Acolapissa people, were documented as
separate tribes.

By 1700, the Houma were in a border conflict with the Bayougoula over hunting
grounds. Mediation by Iberville's brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville,
settled the conflict in March of that year. The tribes placed a tall red pole
marked by sacred animal carcasses and feathers in the ground on the bank of
a bayou, at a place now known as Scott's Bluff, establishing a new border
between their peoples. Called Istrouma or Iti Homma by the natives and Baton
Rouge by the French, this marker was at a site some five miles above Bayou
Manchac on the east bank of the Mississippi. The area developed as a trading
post and the modern city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In 1706, the Houma migrated south from the Red River region to other areas.
One account said they wanted to move closer to their new French allies,
concentrated in the New Orleans area, and away from the English-allied tribes
to the north. From the 1730s to the French-Indian war (1754–1763) (also
known as the Seven Years' War), European wars were played out in North
America. Numerous Native American bands formed protective alliances with
the Europeans to deal with the conflicts. As early as 1739, the French reported
that the Houma, Bayougoula, and Acolapissa were merging into one tribe.
Though the tribe remained predominantly Houma, the last remnants of many
tribal nations joined them for refuge.

Because of increasing conflicts among the English, French, and Spanish

colonists, the Houma migrated south by the beginning of the 19th century to
their current locations in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. Oral history and
modern scholars agree that they made a settlement called Chukunamous
(meaning roughly Red House). The modern city of Houma, Louisiana was later
developed at this site. The tribe moved further south.

Early United States era

Having lost Saint-Domingue with the success of the slave revolt establishing
Haiti, Napoleon ended his North American ambitions and agreed to sell the
Louisiana colony to the United States. This doubled the land area of the new
republic. On April 30, 1803, the two nations signed a treaty confirming the
Louisiana Purchase. With respect to native inhabitants, article six of the
Louisiana Purchase Treaty states
 The United States promise to execute such treaties and articles as
may have been agreed between Spain and the tribes and nations
of Indians, until, by mutual consent of the United States and the
said tribes of nations, other suitable articles shall have been
agreed upon.

Although the United States signed the treaty, they failed to uphold the policy.
Dr. John Sibley was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson as US Indian
agent for the region. He did not visit any villages in the swamps of southern
Louisiana, and the Houma had no official representation to the federal
government.

In 1885, the Houma lost a great leader, Rosalie Courteau. She had helped them
survive through the aftermath of the American Civil War. She continues to be
highly respected.

Modern era

By the end of the 19th century, the Houma had developed a creole language
based on the French language of the former colony. The Houma-French
language which the Houma people speak today is a mix between the French
spoken by early explorers and Houma words, such as shaui ("raccoon"). Yet,
Houma-French language is still a French language, because it can be
understood by French speakers from Canada, France, Rwanda or Louisiana.
There are some differences in vocabulary, for example, chevrette to say
crevette (shrimp). The accent of the Houma Nation French-speaker is
comparable to the difference between an English-speaker from the United
States and an English-speaker from England; every linguistic group develops
many different accents.

As southern Louisiana became more urban and industrialized, the Houma

remained relatively isolated in their bayou settlements. The population of the
Houma at this time was divided among six other Native American settlements.
Travel between settlements was made by pirogues and the waterways; the
state did not build roads connecting the settlements until the 1940s. Like the
other Native American populations, the Houma were often subjected to
discrimination and isolation.
In 1907, John R. Swanton, an anthropologist from the Smithsonian Institution,
visited the Houma. The Houma continue to have a hunter-gatherer type
economy, which he documented, depending on the bayous and swamps for
fish and game. They also cultivate small subsistence gardens. Houma
members R.J. Molinere, Jr. and his son Jay Paul Molinere are featured hunting
alligators on the television program, Swamp People.

After white Democrats regained power in Louisiana following the

Reconstruction era, they passed laws establishing racial segregation. They had
previously classified the Houma and other Native Americans as free people of
color and required them to send their children to schools established for the
children of freedmen, when available. The state was slow to construct any
public schools in Houma settlements. It was not until 1964 after the Civil
Rights Act was passed and ended segregation that Houma children were
allowed to attend public schools. Before this time, Houma children attended
only missionary schools established by religious groups.

Government

The Houma established a government that includes a role for tribal elders, who
operate like a senate. In addition, they have an elected council of
representatives and elect a president. That position is held by Principal Chief
August "Cocoa" Creppel.

Federal recognition

The Houma were granted land by the 1790s on Bayou Terrebonne under the
Spanish colonial administration, which had prohibited Indian slavery in 1764.[9]
They were never removed to a reservation and, as a small tribe, were
overlooked by the federal government during the Indian Removal period of the
1830s. As a people without recognized communal land, in the 20th century,
they were considered to have lost their tribal status.

In addition, since 1808, following United States purchase of Louisiana, state

policy required classification of all residents according to a binary system of
white and non-white: all Indians in Louisiana were to be classified as free
people of color in state records.[9] This was related to the approach of United
States slavery states to classify all children born to slave mothers as slaves
(and therefore black) regardless of paternity and proportion of other ancestry.
During the French colonial period in Louisiana, the term free people of color
had applied primarily to people of African-European descent. After US
annexation of the territory, its administrators applied this term to all non-
whites, including those who identified as Indian.[9] In the early 20th century, the
state adopted a "one-drop rule" that was even more stringent, classifying
anyone with any known African ancestry as black. Many Houma people may
have mixed ancestry but identify culturally and ethnically as Houma rather than
African American.

Records of these people are among regular civil parish and church records,
and reflect differing jurisdictional designations, rather than lack of stability as a
people in this area. Since the mid-20th century, the people identifying as
Houma have organized politically, created a government, and have sought
federal recognition as a tribe. In 1979 the Houma tribe filed its letter of intent
to petition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Their petition for recognition was
rejected in 1994, on the basis that the tribe had lived in disparate settlements.
The tribe submitted a response in 1996.[10] The Houma tribe waits for their
application to be reviewed again for final determination.

The Houma have been highly decentralized, with communities scattered over a
wide area. The Pointe-Au-Chien Indian Tribe in southern Louisiana and the
Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogee have organized and left the
United Houma Nation because of feeling too separated from other peoples.
They have each achieved state recognition and are independently seeking
federal recognition as tribes but have not succeeded as of 2014.[11]

Facing continued criticism of its tribal recognition process as being too

stringent in view of US historical issues, in 2013 the United States Bureau of
Indian Affairs offered proposed rule changes. Tribes would be required to
demonstrate historical continuity since 1934, when Congress passed the
Indian Reorganization Act, granting tribes more power as sovereign nations.
Earlier they had been required to demonstrate political continuity as a
community from the colonial or settlement period of European contact.[12]
Numerous tribes seeking federal recognition had protested that disruption by
European-American colonists and settlers were the very factors that caused
losses of historic lands and continuity, but that their people could demonstrate
continued identification as tribal peoples. In 2014, the Houma were informed
by the BIA that their review was in active status under these new guidelines.[13]

The state of Louisiana officially recognized the United Houma Tribe in 1972.

Coastal erosion
As many of tribal communities are in coastal areas and depend on the
swamps and bayous as a source of food and economic resource, they have
been severely and adversely affected by the continuing coastal erosion and
loss of wetlands. Different factors associated with industrialization have
contributed to such losses, including dredging of navigation canals by shipping
and oil companies, which increased water movement and erosion, increasing
salt water intrusion and causing loss of wetlands plants. In addition, oil
companies have buried piping under the ground but not covered it sufficiently.

The community of Isle de Jean Charles has suffered severe erosion; scientists
estimate that the island will be lost by 2030 if no restoration takes place. The
Houma tribe is looking for land in the area to buy in order to resettle all of the
community together. Coastal erosion has adversely affected the quality of
fishing. The tribe has suffered from a decrease in fish, as saltwater intrusion
has destroyed many of the old fishing holes.

Family names

The Houma people, like many other Native American Tribes within the state
and surrounding states, spent many years migrating and shifting. This has left
a scattering of ethnic Houma people among many other Native American
populations and considerable intermarriage. Over time, the Houma were
encouraged to adopt European-style names; in addition, there was
considerable marriage by European men and native women. Today most
Houma have surnames of European origin, such as Billiot, Verdin, Dardar,
Naquin, Gregoire, Parfait, Chaisson, Courteau, Hotard, Solet, Verret, Fitch,
Creppel, etc.

In the beginning days of the organization of the Tribe as it is known today,

many Native people of other ethnicities thought they had to enroll with the
Houma in order to be classified by the state as Indian. Houma means red in
Choctaw, Choctaw being the language from which Mobile Trade Jargon
derived. The research necessary for Federal Recognition has helped many find
their ancestral tribal identity. The process of documentation of ancestors has
given honor to those Houma and other Native Americans who faced much
discrimination in the generations before.

Today the Louisiana constitution guarantees all residents the right to learn,
teach, speak, read and write in English, French and Houma. In the 1980s, the
tribe led a language revival effort; they have done considerable research to
reconstruct their lost language. Some of these Houma students have gone to
college and become linguists, scientists, musicians, Linux programmers,
animators, sociologists, and nurses.

References

1. United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Indian Affairs (1990).

Houma Recognition Act: Hearing Before the Select Committee on Indian Affairs,
United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session on S. 2423 ...
August 7, 1990, Washington, DC . U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 38.

2. Byington, Cyrus (1915-01-01). A Dictionary of the Choctaw Language . U.S.

Government Printing Office. p. 170 . "huma."

3. Brasseaux, Carl, ed. French, Cajun, Creole, Houma; A Primer on Francophone

Louisiana. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2005.

4. Kilpatrick, Mary. "Houmas search for native language" . houmatoday.com.

Retrieved 6 August 2013.

5. Houma Language Project https://www.houmalanguageproject.org

6. Speck, Frank G., 1941, "A List of Plant Curatives Obtained From the Houma
Indians of Louisiana", Primitive Man 14:49-75, page 64

7. Swanton, John R. Indians of the Southeastern United States (Washington:

United States Government Printing Office, 1946) p. 139

8. Pritzker, Barry M. Native American: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture and

Peoples, Vol. 2, p. 550

9. "Summary of Evidence" , HISTORICAL REPORT ON THE UNITED HOUMA

NATION, INC.

10. "Federal Recognition" , United Houma Nation. 5 Oct 2008 (retrieved 19 Jun
2014)

11. State of Louisiana "List of state and federally recognized tribes"

12. Jordan Blum, "La. tribes look to change in federal recognition rules" , The
Advocate, 1 September 2013

13. Dan Frosch, "Tribes Seek Speedier Federal Recognition Proposed Changes
May Benefit Native Groups Denied Health, Other Benefits" , Wall Street
Journal, 10 July 2014, accessed 19 October 2014

Further reading
 Brown, Cecil H.; & Hardy, Heather K. (2000). What is Houma?. International
Journal of American Linguistics, 66 (4), 521-548.

Dardar, T. Mayheart (2000). Women-Chiefs and Crawfish Warriors: A Brief

History of the Houma People, Translated by Clint Bruce. New Orleans: United
Houma Nation and Centenary College of Louisiana.

Goddard, Ives. (2005). "The indigenous languages of the Southeast",

Anthropological Linguistics, 47 (1), 1-60.

Guevin, Bryan L (1987). "Grand Houmas Village: An Historic Houma Indian Site
(16AN35) Ascension Parish, Louisiana". Louisiana Archaeology. 11.

Miller, Mark Edwin. "A Matter of Visibility: The United Houma Nation's Struggle
for Federal Acknowledgment," in Forgotten Tribes: Unrecognized Indians and the
Federal Acknowledgment Process. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.

Media

Linezo Hong, director and co-writer, "My Louisiana Love" (2012) , episode of
America Reframed, PBS-WGBH, features a current look at the Houma and
issues of environmental damage to their habitat.

Hidden Nation (1994), a one-hour documentary video on the Houma by Barbara

Sillery & Oak Lea, Keepsake Productions (New Orleans).

External links

United Houma Nation , official website

"Proposal may allow Houma tribe to win federal recognition" , The Advocate,
19 July 2014

Lee Sultzman, "Houma History"

Greg English, "History of the United Houma Nation" , Louisiana 101