First People of the Red River

 Looking straight at me and my coworker Sarah-Elizabeth Gundlach, Ms. LaRue Parker, the tribal chair of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, asked us how we would feel if someone dug up our grandmother’s grave, taking the bones and the jewelry and all that was buried with her. “Violated,” answered Sarah-Elizabeth. “Outraged,” I said. “Yes,” Ms. Parker said, with the tribal council members seated around her nodding in agreement, “That’s how we feel when it happens to us.”

National Native American Heritage Month is commemorated each year in November to celebrate the traditions, languages, contributions and stories of Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and affiliated Island communities to ensure those vital histories and contributions continue to thrive and be known through coming generations. 2024’s theme is Weaving together our past, present and future. It is an opportune time to recall that meeting on April 20, 2006, and other lessons learned from the Bossier Parish Library History Center’s First People of the Red River exhibit and symposium, which opened in October of that year.

The First People of the Red River exhibit was a display of Caddo Indian artifacts from the “Mounds Plantation” site of Caddo Parish, the largest Caddo ceremonial site in Northwest Louisiana, as well as the “Haley” site in southwest Arkansas. The one-of-a-kind collection had never before been seen by the public and included finely engraved pottery and a range of beautifully-worked stone tools. To plan the exhibit, History Center staff worked closely with members of the Tribal Council of the Caddo Nation and its Cultural Preservation Department, which are located in Binger, Oklahoma. It was the topic at-hand in our meeting with Chair Parker and her historic all-women tribal council that cool spring day in 2006.

Ms. Parker opened the meeting with her hopes for the exhibit: She wanted visitors to the History Center to know why the objects were in the mounds, who made them, how the present-day Caddo Indians feel about the artifacts, and especially, how they feel about looting.

The council stressed that we show that the artifacts are sacred to a living people who still practice the ways that the artifacts represent. They wanted visitors to take away the message that the Caddo people’s ancestors, and the artifacts, were buried with great ceremony and love to help them in their journey to their next life – sometimes with water jugs, food, or even their horse. The council chair and members hoped that the exhibit, by putting human faces and beliefs to the artifacts, will cause people to think twice before taking artifacts and disturbing Caddo burials.

The Council chair and members emphasized that through the exhibit we aim to teach as many people in Shreveport-Bossier as possible that the Caddo are “still around’ and to build bridges between cultures. They hoped to break down barriers as people learned about the Caddo tribal members of the present-day.

The main message of the exhibit became that Mounds Plantation in Northwest Louisiana is an important, sacred place to an ancient and living people, the Caddo Indians. A number of tribal members living in the modern world still honor and practice the ancient traditions that the Mounds Plantation artifacts represent, such as community dances and feasts, speaking the Caddo language to reinforce Caddo identity, and continuing Caddo spiritual practices. For the exhibit’s opening symposium on October 7, 2006, after being welcomed by Mayor Lo Walker, Caddo elders were able to make those points directly to the public here in Bossier City.

The History Center acknowledges that the tribal council made a significant commitment in participating in the exhibit process when displaying these sacred items was not their customary inclination. They did so with the hope for more recognition of who they are as tribal members from cultural institutions such as the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center and by the public in northwest Louisiana.

The best to way to learn more about the Caddo people is to go to the source. The Caddo Nation has a Heritage Museum in Binger, OK (west of Oklahoma City), though it is currently closed for renovations. Closer to Bossier, for a daytrip, you can visit the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site in Alto, TX, and step inside a Caddo grass house built under the direction of Caddo elder Phil Cross and walk among prehistoric Caddoan mounds. If you can’t visit in person, you can view an excellent video on the house and its construction called, “Koo-Hoot Kiwat: The Caddo Grass House.” (Search for it on YouTube.)

Closer still, the Caddo artifacts mentioned in this article are now on display with the McKinney collection at the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport’s Native American Gallery. Or, History Center staff can visit with your group or school with our replica Caddo Indian tools and hunting weapons for the “Caddo Indians: Early Inventors” program. And come to the History Center to peruse or request our many books and other resources on the Caddo, such as a “Time Travel Kit” of books, educational activities and primary source materials. We are located at 724 Hutchison Drive (formerly called 850 City Hall Drive, just across Beckett Street from the old library and History Center), Bossier City, LA and are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/

Article by: Pam Carlisle