Part 1: Earl Barbry, Sr. and the Tunica Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana
The Tunica Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana was federally recognized in 1981 by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior. They were one of only two federally recognized in the southeast during the 1980s out of more than 30 who had petitioned via the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Tunica-Biloxi effort for recognition lasted 47 years even though it had retained part of its command land base, many religious practices, their cultural identity, and tribal government. The Tribe had been led by a Chief and Sub-Chief well into the 1970s. Tribal members also kept craft practices, their cemeteries and autonomy throughout their history. The Bureau of Indian Affairs had simply neglected its obligation to the tribe to provide a review of their petition for federal recognition.
The Tunica Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana was federally recognized in 1981 by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior. They were one of only two federally recognized in the southeast during the 1980s out of more than 30 who had petitioned via the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Tunica-Biloxi effort for recognition lasted 47 years even though it had retained part of its command land base, many religious practices, their cultural identity, and tribal government. The Tribe had been led by a Chief and Sub-Chief well into the 1970s. Tribal members also kept craft practices, their cemeteries and autonomy throughout their history. The Bureau of Indian Affairs had simply neglected its obligation to the tribe to provide a review of their petition for federal recognition.
The federal
recognition endeavor began in the 1930s with Eli Barbry, who made his way to
Washington DC with a handful of tribal members in a model T-Ford in the 1930s. The
effort for federal recognition continued for four decades through efforts of
Chief Eli Barbry. Eli’s grandson, Earl Barbry, Sr. came from a long line a line
of Indian chiefs but never intended to go into politics himself. He became one
of the great leaders of the Native American movement in the southeast.
In the 1970s
Earl Barbry, Sr. learned that the tribe had crafted a deal with the city of
Marksville to rent the Indian reservation land as a garbage dump. In exchange,
the tribe would receive fifty dollars a month and a road would be built into
the reservation land. Barbry attended a tribal meeting where the deal was to be
approved. “I guess because so many of our people were raised in poverty, fifty
dollars seemed like a lot. This was discussed, how it would be a good deal for
the tribe,” he recalled. Then it was his turn to speak: “I just reminded them
of how the city had treated them like trash all their lives, and now they
wanted to allow them to dump their trash on our land,” he said. Barbry said his
love for the land is more than just property ownership. “This is the only thing
that keeps us apart from everybody else. This is our nation.” By the end of the
meeting, the decision to reject the dump proposal was made, and Barbry’s entry
into the tribe’s politics was a foregone conclusion. Shortly after, he was
appointed to fill an unexpired tribal council term as vice chairman. In 1978 he
became chairman and remained chairman through reelection until his death in
2013.
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