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Houma people

The Houma (/ˈhmə/) 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 the United Houma Nation, have been recognized by the state as a tribe since 1972, but are not recognized by the federal government.[1]

For the former sports team, see Houma Indians.

According to the tribe, as of 2023 they have more than 17,000 enrolled tribal citizens[2] residing within a six-parish area that encompasses 4,750 square miles (12,300 km2). The parishes are St. Mary, Terrebonne, Lafourche, Jefferson, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard.[3]


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.[4]

Ethnobotany[edit]

The Houma people take a decoction of dried Gamochaeta purpurea for colds and influenza.[5] 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 plant's tender, white heart raw.[5] A decoction of the aerial parts of the Berchemia scandens vine was used for impotency by the Houma people.[6]

Government[edit]

The Houma people established a government that includes a council consisting of elected representatives for each tribal district and elect a principal chief as well as a vice principal chief. The current position of principal chief is held by Lora Ann Chaisson.[13]

Federal recognition[edit]

The Houma were granted land by the 1790s on Bayou Terrebonne under the Spanish colonial administration, which had prohibited Indian slavery in 1764.[14] 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.[14] 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.[14] 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. In 1994, their petition for recognition was rejected, on the basis that the tribe had lived in disparate settlements. The tribe submitted a response in 1996.[15] 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.[16]


In 2013 the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs offered proposed rule changes as it was facing continued criticism of its tribal recognition process as being too stringent in view of US historical issues. 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.[17] 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.[18]


The state of Louisiana officially recognized the United Houma Tribe in 1972.[1]

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

. (2005). "The indigenous languages of the Southeast", Anthropological Linguistics, 47 (1), 1-60.

Goddard, Ives

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.

episode of America Reframed, PBS-WGBH, features a current look at the Houma and issues of environmental damage to their habitat.

Linezo Hong, director and co-writer, "My Louisiana Love" (2012)

Hidden Nation (1994), a one-hour documentary video on the Houma by Barbara Sillery & Oak Lea, Keepsake Productions (New Orleans).

official website

United Houma Nation

The Advocate, 19 July 2014

"Proposal may allow Houma tribe to win federal recognition"

Lee Sultzman, "Houma History"

Louisiana 101

Greg English, "History of the United Houma Nation"