Tunica-Biloxi Tribe celebrates 38th year of federal recognition

The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe celebrated the 38th anniversary of the tribe’s federal recognition on Sept. 25. A large crowd of tribal and non-tribal guests attended the event in the tribe’s Cultural & Educational Resources Center in Marksville.

Activities included a flag ceremony to honor elders, citizens and leaders of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe. A highlight was John Barbry’s reading of the July 1981 Federal Register notice that announced the tribe had become a federally recognized sovereign Native American nation. Barbry is director of the tribe’s language and culture program.

The recognition took effect 60 days after it was printed in the Register.

There were also remarks from Tribal Council members, Seventh Generation Youth Council member Jordan Lemoine, and special guest State Rep. Robert Johnson, who also serves as judge for the Tunica-Biloxi court.

The ceremony opened and closed with traditional Native American songs.

When the tribe gained federal recognition in 1981, 186 of its 200 members could prove descent from lists of Tunicas and Biloxis dating back to the 1800s. The tribe now numbers over 1,200 members.

The Tunica and Biloxi tribes were well-established communities when Europeans arrived in what is now Louisiana and Mississippi.

The Tunicas were valuable allies to the French and later the Spanish in wars with the English and other Native tribes, most notably the Natchez. They fought in Spanish colonial Gov. Bernardo Vicente de Galvez’s army in 1779 that led to Spain capturing Baton Rouge from the English.

Around the same time, the Tunica had moved to present-day Avoyelles Parish where the Spanish granted them land which remains their reservation today.

Despite that long history, the tribe based in Marksville was not recognized by the federal government as a Native American tribe until July 1981 under Chairman Earl Barbry.