AtD and the Wild West

[Paul Nightingale]

>From David Morris:

> An interesting offshoot of the Wild West shows was the adoption of the
> Wild West indian garb (feathers and intricate beadwork costumes) by
> the former slaves and still oppressed blacks in New Orleans, now
> called the Mardi Gras Indians. Many of the former slaves were from
> African tribes that produced intricate beadwork that expressed the
> position of the wearer in that society, and the blacks seeing the Wild
> West indians were inspired by and identified with them.  Mardi being a
> time for public pagentry of false royalty amonst the white elite
> "Krewes," the Mardi Gras Indians found their own tribal royalty to
> imitate and parade during Mardi Gras in the Wild Wesy show indians.
> 

Thanks for that, David. A nicely subversive image. I've found the following
account:

"By the early decades of the twentieth century, a number of black 'Indian'
tribes, associated with specific neighborhoods in the African American
sections of the city, had been formed, and on Mardi Gras these tribes,
bearing names such as the Yellow Poker Hunters, the Wild Squatoulas, and the
Black Mohawks, paraded through black neighborhoods, following no fixed route
and stopping from time to time at local saloons. When tribes encountered one
another, challenges were issued and, not infrequently, violence ensued."

From: Graham White & Shane White (1998) Stylin': African American Expressive
Culture from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit, Cornell University Press, 146.

Sounds like business as usual on pynchon-l.