Focusing on African-American’s most spectacular creations in carnival, musical and artistic fields, the Black Indians from New Orleans exhibition is a vibrant testimony to the African-American experience and history in Louisiana and North America.

Violence punctuates every critical moment in African-Americans’ Louisianian history: the violence of capture and uprooting, the crossing and landing in New Orleans, slavery, the Civil War, segregation, and racism. It shapes their protean story, leading to resistance strategies, as well as highly complex resilience, social reorganisation, and cultural and artistic processes. This exhibition was created collaboratively with representatives from Black Indian communities; it is organised in six different sections, both geographically, from the “Old World” to the “New World”, and chronologically, from the first European presence in Louisiana to the present day. It aims to document the history and celebrate this creativity, centering on the Mardi Gras carnival in New Orleans, one of the most flamboyant shows of resilience in the face of oppression and a powerful cultural and artistic statement.

Behind Louisianian African-Americans’ striking attire, such as the Black Indians suits, the exhibition reveals a unique culture, built over three centuries of repeated assaults from social and racial domination, both under French colonial rule and after independence.