Cameron Williams

Few places capture the imagination like New Orleans during Carnival season. Although the city is renowned worldwide for its Mardi Gras festivities, local Black revelers have historically been an afterthought in the discourse around the celebration. I aim to rectify this by examining the dress practices of the Black Masking (or Mardi Gras) Indians, an often misunderstood group of Black New Orleanians who dress in elaborate suits in the style of Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Through historical analysis, visual analysis, and ethnographic research, I interrogate the way the Black Masking Indians employ subversion as a central part of their Carnival dress practices. Examining Black Masking Indians' long history of using dress as a form of cultural resistance against the prevailing power structures can help us understand the means marginalized people use to challenge authority.

This project is contextualized through an examination of the history of the dress practices of the Masking Indians, which are rooted in African, Indigenous, and Black American traditions, as well as the history of colonialism and segregation in New Orleans. To situate these dress practices, I explore the roots of Mardi Gras krewes in the 19th century and examine their rapid evolution and use as a tool of cultural repression by white supremacist institutions. As the contemporary dress practices of the Black Masking Indians originated in response to oppression faced during this era, an understanding of this history is a necessary starting point. This work also builds upon existing research on the performance of gender identity, particularly in relation to Black masculinity. Masculinity in the Black community is complex; Black men are often compelled to adopt strictly defined forms of gender expression. Thus, the Black Masking Indians' defiance of traditional gender roles and language is a phenomenon well worth examining.