Nations Within : The Four Sovereign Tribes of Louisiana by Sarah Sue...

The land of Louisiana has nourished Native American people since 4000 b.c. Not often thought of as ?Indian country,? this southern state has some of the oldest and best-preserved Indian burial sites in the world, as well as distinct native cultures that continue to flourish in the twenty-first century. Nations Within combines amazing photographs with the voices and perspectives of Native Americans to unveil the past and glimpse the future of the four federally recognized sovereign Indian tribes of Louisiana?the Chitimacha, Coushatta, Tunica-Biloxi, and Jena Band of Choctaw?showing how these particular groups have sustained their heritage and managed to thrive despite poverty, discrimination, and near extinction. The oldest, the Chitimacha, have resided along the Atchafalaya Basin for more than six thousand years and achieved federal recognition in 1919. This community has kept its identity through French and Spanish colonial governments, as Acadians flowed into the region.