Dissertation Information for John Daniel d'OneyNAME:
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SCHOOL: ADVISORS: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: MPACT Status: Fully Complete Title: A history of the Houma Nation, 1682--2002 Abstract: This dissertation is a history of the Houma Nation between 1600 and 2002. The Houma Indians live in southeastern Louisiana, with the majority in Terrebonne Parish and smaller numbers in Lafourche and St. Mary parishes. At time of initial French contact in 1699, the Houma, or Ouma, lived in central Louisiana along the Mississippi border. They left this site and relocated to two settlement areas outside New Orleans in the early 1700s, then relocated to extreme southeastern Louisiana in the early 1800s. A great number of disparate sources elucidate tribal history. French and Spanish colonial journals and official records are a primary source of evidence, though archaeological records fill gaps in the early historical record. In later years, especially valuable sources of evidence are sociological studies, newspaper accounts, land records, linguistic studies, and school records. The greatest challenges to the tribe in the twentieth century have been gaining access to public education and gaining official recognition. The Houma still face the latter challenge. Though Louisiana officially recognized the Houma on two separate occasions, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) ruled in 1994 that the Houma were not Native Americans. The BIA maintains that the "so-called Houma" are a mixture of German, French, English and African ethnicities, with only the smallest admixture of various Native American tribes. The historical record indicates otherwise. Evidence shows that though the Houma now speak French or English as their primary language and practice Catholicism, they have consistently maintained an understanding of themselves as Houma Indians. The majority of the local non-Indian community shares this belief, and the historical record supports it. |
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