Losing their Land and their Recognition: The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana

The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana was formally recognized by the United States Congress as a sovereign nation on June 27, 1973.

A form of federal recognition first came in 1868, when 160 acres of land was placed in trust for the tribe. Federal educational and medical assistance programs and an elementary school were received by 1930, but in 1953 the Bureau of Indian Affairs termination policy halted services to the tribe and removed the land from trust. Legally this meant the Coushatta Tribe no longer officially existed. 

In 1965 members of the tribe formed the Coushatta Indians of Allen Parish, Inc., a tribal arts and craft business. They made baskets and other crafts, sold them to the business and in turn, they were sold to the public. “That was their living,” recalls tribal elder Florine Pitre. They had lost their services. This venture also provided a gathering place for tribal members, and in so doing laid the groundwork for the push to regain federal recognition.

Coushatta members appealed to the Louisiana state legislature for recognition and received it in 1972. That same year federal officials agreed to resume medical services to the tribe. The tribe then formed Coushatta Alliance, Inc., which drafted a tribal constitution and sought funding for governmental development and a tribal office. Their federal recognition was granted in 1973. Two years later by federal proclamation the tribe received fifteen acres of land as their tribal reservation. The Coushatta were once again rooted to an area by soil.