The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana (

Coushatta The Coushatta ( cku, Koasati, Kowassaati or Kowassa:ti) are a Muskogean-speaking Native American people now living primarily in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. When first encountered by Europeans, they lived in the territor ...

: ''Kowassaatiha'') is one of three

federally recognized tribe This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

s of Koasati people. They are located in

Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Unive ...

and Jefferson Davis Parishes,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. The tribe hosts an annual

pow wow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or pu ...

during the second weekend in June.

Reservation

The Coushatta Indian Reservation is located on 154-acres in

Allen Parish, Louisiana Allen Parish (french: Paroisse d'Allen) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 25,764. The parish seat is Oberlin and the largest city is Oakdale. Allen Parish is in southwestern Louisia ...

. Approximately 400 people lived on the reservation in the 1990s. The reservation has a tribal police department, fire department, and court house. There is also a tribal medical facility, fitness center, and event center.

Language

The

Koasati language Koasati (also Coushatta) is a Native American languages, Native American language of Muskogean languages, Muskogean origin. The language is spoken by the Coushatta people, most of whom live in Allen Parish north of the town of Elton, Louisiana, ...

is part of the Apalachee-Alabama-Koasati branch of the

Muskogean languages Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States. Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing, the Muskogean languages are generally div ...

. An estimated 200 people spoke the language in 2000, most of whom lived in Louisiana. Historically, the language was spoken exclusively among tribal members and was never written down. In 2007, along with

McNeese State University McNeese State University is a public university in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. The present name was adopted in 1970. ...

, the tribe received a

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

(NSF) grant for documenting endangered language (DEL); this provided necessary resources to document and preserve the Koasati language.

Government

The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana is headquartered in

Elton, Louisiana Elton is a town in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 992 at the 2020 census, down from 1,128 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jennings Micropolitan Statistical Area. History The wife of pioneer settler ...

. The tribe is a sovereign nation and is governed by a democratically elected five-member council. The current administration is as follows: * Chairman: Jonathan Cernek * Vice–Chair: Crystal Williams * Secretary-Treasurer: Kristian Poncho * Council Member: Kevin Sickey * Council Member: Loretta Williams.

Economic development

The tribe owns and operates the Coushatta Casino Resort in

Kinder, Louisiana Kinder is a small town in Allen Parish, Louisiana, in the United States. The population was 2,477 at the 2010 census. The Lieutenant Douglas B. Fournet Memorial Park, an American Legion enterprise, was dedicated on June 11, 1988, in Kinder t ...

. The casino is home to the Koasati Pines golf course. The casino operates 8 restaurants and 4 hotels, and is the largest casino in the state. The casino employs over 2500 local residents, and it is one of the top five largest private employer in Southwest Louisiana."Coushatta Casino Resort."
''500 Nations.'' Retrieved 27 May 2013.

Notable tribal members

Santiago X Santiago X is an indigenous multidisciplinary artist and architect working in land art, architecture, new media, and hip hop music. Born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1982, he is an enrolled citizen of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana (Koasati) and Indi ...

, multidisplinary artist, architect

Notes

References

* * Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

External links

Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana Koasati Federally recognized tribes in the United States Native American tribes in Louisiana American Indian reservations in Louisiana Allen Parish, Louisiana Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana