Louisiana will allow casinos to reopen on May 18, making it the first big U.S. Market to announce a return to gambling. The reopening is subject to casinos gaining state-police approval of their.

1. Map Of Casinos In Louisiana
2. List Of Casinos In Louisiana

The Sovereign Nation of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana is a federally recognized Native American Tribe with approximately 865 members. The Coushatta people live primarily in Louisiana, with most living in Allen Parish, just north of the town of Elton, Louisiana, and east of Kinder, Louisiana. A small number share a reservation near Livingston, Texas with the members of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe.

The Coushatta people have called the piney woods of Southwest Louisiana home for more than a century After the Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto encountered a Coushatta community on a Tennessee River island in 1540, the Coushattas relocated, beginning a long series of moves aimed at avoiding European encroachment. By the 1700s, the Coushattas had resettled near the convergence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers in Alabama and had become part of the powerful Creek Confederacy. Despite this association, the Coushatta maintained their own culture and language and, throughout the eighteenth century, tribal leaders played an increasingly important role in Creek politics.

In 1797, the influential Coushatta chief Stilapihkachatta, or “Red Shoes,” led a group of 400 followers to Spanish Louisiana and, in the spring of 1804, another group of 450 Coushattas joined them in the territory. Over the next several decades, the Coushattas moved their villages from place to place, crossing the Red, Sabine, and Trinity Rivers, in an effort to remain in neutral areas between French, Spanish, American, and Mexican territories. In the 1880s, a group of approximately 300 Coushattas settled at Bayou Blue north of Elton, Louisiana, where they would remain. As the 20^th century dawned, Coushatta leaders turned their attention to ensuring the well-being of their people and they began to engage the United States government in this effort. Years of lobbying paid off in 1935, as the federal government extended tuition funding to Coushatta children and, in 1945, offered community members contract medical care. Then, in 1953, the relationship between the Coushatta and the federal government soured, when, despite earlier treaties with the tribe, the Bureau of Indian Affairs terminated all services to the community without congressional approval or community consent.

Efforts to regain federal recognition began in 1965, as community members organized Coushatta Indians of Allen Parish, Inc. and established a local trading post to sell Coushatta pine needle baskets. In 1970, Coushatta leaders began petitioning the Indian Health Service to again provide medical care for tribe members. These efforts were successful in 1972, which was the same year the Louisiana Legislature granted the Coushattas official recognition. Finally, in June of 1973, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, under Tribal Chairman Ernest Sickey, once again received federal recognition from the Secretary of Interior.

1. Cypress Bayou Casino Hotel, located near Charenton, LA in the heart of Cajun Country, is Louisiana's premier casino destination for those looking to take a getaway trip for the areas hottest slots and table games, hold a meeting or convention, or to.
2. My husband and I totally enjoyed Coushatta Casino in Kinder, LA. They had many varied slot machines and table games, and the restaurants have great food at reasonable prices! My hubby and I absolutely love our three-day stays at the Coushatta Casino and Resort in Kinder, LA.

After regaining federal recognition in 1973, the Coushatta Tribe began investing in a variety of enterprises in order to provide revenue for their tribal government and jobs for community members. Chief among these enterprises is the Coushatta Casino Resort, which opened in 1995 and has grown into the second largest private employer in the state of Louisiana. The Tribe also operates a variety of smaller business enterprises, as well as health, educational, social and cultural programs, that have economic and social impact on the tribal and surrounding communities.

The Coushatta Tribe now owns roughly 5,000 acres of land in Allen Parish and more 1,000 acres in surrounding parishes. The land is used for Coushatta-constructed tribal housing, rice and crawfish farming and development of new business programs, as well as buildings to house the Tribal Government and Tribal Finance Departments; a Tribal Police Department; and Community, Health and Learning centers.

Women’s roles have always been prominent in Coushatta society. In ancient times, clan systems were used to constitute political positions and ceremonial rights of the Coushatta people. Clans were passed to children only by the mother, a practice that is still carried on today. The Coushatta Nation continues to celebrate and honor the woman’s role in society by selecting young, distinguished women to serve as royal, tribal delegates officially titled the Coushatta Princess and Jr. Princess.

The Coushatta people work hard to preserve their Koasati language, their traditional crafts, such as their longleaf pine needle basketry, which is renowned world-wide, and their cultural traditions, including dancing, clothing styles, songs, and food-ways. The Coushatta were traditionally agriculturalists, growing maize and other food crops, and supplementing their diet by hunting game. Corn has always been a major staple for the Coushatta people. Today most Coushatta purchase Indian corn that has been dried to make their cha-wah-ka (corn soup). The dried corn is washed, 'lyed' (a process used to soften the outer shell), and thoroughly pounded & sifted, then boiled over an open fire for several hours.

The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana is one of three federally recognized tribes of Koasati people. They are is located in Allen and Jefferson Davis Parishes, Louisiana. The tribe hosts an annual pow wow during the second weekend in June.^[3]

Reservation[edit]

The Coushatta Indian Reservation is located on 154-acres in Allen Parish, Louisiana. Approximately 400 people lived on the reservation in the 1990s.^[2] 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[edit]

The Koasati language is part of the Apalachee-Alabama-Koasati branch of the Muskogean languages. An estimated 200 people spoke the language in 2000, most of whom lived in Louisiana.^[4] Historically, the language was spoken exclusively among tribal members and was never written down.^[5] In 2007, along with McNeese State University, the tribe received a NSF documenting endangered language (DEL) grant that provided necessary resources to document and preserve the Koasati language.^[6]

Government[edit]

The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana is headquartered in Elton, Louisiana. The tribe is a sovereign nation and is governed by a democratically elected five-member council. The current administration is as follows:

• Chairman: David Sickey
• Vice–Chairmam: Kevin Sickey
• Secretary Treasurer: Loretta Williams
• Council Member: Crystal Williams
• Council Member: Jonathan Cernek.^[7]

Map Of Casinos In Louisiana

International Relations[edit]

On November 17, 2008, the Sovereign Nation of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana became the first Native American tribe to recognize, honor and welcome official representatives of the State of Israel.^[8]

Economic development[edit]

The tribe owns and operates the Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder, Louisiana. 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.^[9] ],^[2][10]

Notes[edit]

1. ^'Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.'Archived 24 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 27 May 2013.
2. ^ ^abcPritzker 364
3. ^Coushatta Powwow. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
4. ^'Koasati.'Ethnologue. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
5. ^'The Koasati Indians of Southwest Louisiana.'
6. ^'Koasati Language Project.' Retrieved 11 December 2018
7. ^'Tribal Government.'Archived 4 July 2013 at Archive.todayCoushatta Tribe of Louisiana. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
8. ^'Coushatta signs friendship treaty with Israel.' Retrieved 10 December 2018.
9. ^'Major employers of Southwest Louisiana.'
10. ^'Coushatta Casino Resort.'500 Nations. Retrieved 27 May 2013.

References[edit]

List Of Casinos In Louisiana

• McCrocklin, Claude (1990). 'The Red River Coushatta Indian Villages of Northwest Louisiana, 1790-1835'. Louisiana Archaeology. No. 12.
• Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN978-0-19-513877-1

External links[edit]

• Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, official website