“When you are born Indian, you die Indian.”
That line, spoken by Helen Gindrat, captures the heart of this newspaper article and a moment in time when the Houma people were still being asked to prove their humanity, their history, and their right to exist in their own homeland.
Reporting from Golden Meadow, the article documents a reality that lingered well into the 20th century. As late as the 1960s, Houma families were barred from stores, barbershops, restaurants, and public spaces in nearby towns. Children attended segregated Indian schools until those schools were finally closed in 1963.
“It was 1963, during integration, we were all funneled into the white schools. We were so far behind,” recalled Mary Lou Townsley, a Houma field representative.
“Our teachers were mostly other Houmas who had gotten a little education and then volunteered to come back and teach us. They didn’t know much, so they couldn’t teach us much.”
For many Houma citizens, the fight for federal recognition was never about money.
“I’m not too much interested in the money,” said John Parfait, a woodcarver and musician from Dulac.
“The credibility is the thing.”
That credibility meant dignity. It meant being believed.
Kirby Verret, then tribal chief, believed recognition would, once and for all, give the Houma an answer to people who had long discriminated against them.
Even local officials acknowledged the damage that had been done.
“The Indian at one time was considered an idiot, a hothead, a troublemaker… Back then, the Indians were outcasts,” said J.B. Breaux, a Terrebonne Parish councilman.
“A step has been made, but it’s still not where I would like to see it.”
Throughout the article, memory and ancestry remain close to the surface.
“I dream about the old people, the people from the 1700s,” Townsley said.
“Last night I dreamed about Rosalie Courteaux. I think all of them want us to win.”
These words were printed more than 35 years ago, hoerver the struggle they describe is unfortunately not past tense.
📰 The Atlantic Journal, December 30th, 1990 (Atlanta, GA)
