In Dulac, La., there are mounds, land that Indigenous people built up using the earth. Michael Billiot remembers playing on one of them when he was younger. He said there used to be a rope swing.
“My parents used to bring us to the Indian Mound every Sunday and we would run up the mountain and jump onto the rope and swing down,” he said.
At the time, the land was not owned by his tribe, the United Houma Nation. Billiot was in his first year of practicing law when he first tried to help the tribe acquire the land in 2007, but that deal fell through. It came as a surprise when 17 years later, the three companies who owned the property decided to give the land back for free.
“Their donation makes apparent that they believe that the United Houma Nation will be good stewards of the property,” said Billiot. “And in fact, I think that's what the Land Back movement is really all about, the rightful stewards of historic Indigenous property are Indigenous people.”
Land Back is a nationwide movement that aims to return Indigenous land and cultural artifacts back to tribes, and it’s gaining momentum in Louisiana, particularly with mounds. Back in September, a church returned a sacred mound to the Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha tribe of Grand Bayou Indian Village in Plaquemines Parish, the first time land was returned to Indigenous people in Louisiana.
There is also a growing awareness of the importance of mounds to Indigenous Louisianans, as well as the threats to them. Earlier this year, a group of Indigenous artists, researchers and culture keepers invited people to help build a mound in New Orleans, called Nanih Bvlbancha. The goal was to call attention to the mounds and tribes along the coast threatened by Louisiana’s land loss crisis.
The mounds in Dulac were donated by L&R Realty, Inc., Lana & Brothers, LLC, and P&G Realty. Michael Heck of Lana & Brothers said his father bought the 4,000 acres in Dulac with his friends in the mid 1970s, about eight of those acres held the two mounds. When it was time for his generation to take over the company from their parents, he brought everyone out to take a look at the properties they owned earlier this year and decide what to do with them.
“We as a group didn't feel it was the right thing to sell it, to try to make money off of it when it would become a better use to give it back to the Indian tribes,” said Heck.
According to a 1978 archaeological report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the mounds were historically used for ceremonies, burials and refuge from flooding. What it’s used for now will be decided by the tribal members collectively, said Billiot.
“It really depends on the community engagement and finding out what they want to happen to the property,” he said.
He added the United Houma Nation will also work with archaeologists to understand how best to preserve the property’s cultural significance and potentially try to submit an application to the National Register of Historic Places. Billiot said the tribe is grateful to finally have the opportunity to decide what it wants to do with the land and that the process of getting it back went so smoothly.
“A lot of times when there is a Land Back initiative, when Indigenous people are seeking to reclaim their historic lands, there’s lawsuits that are involved. There's contentiousness,” said Billiot. “There was none of that here, in the spirit of giving and forgiving, which is perfect around Christmas, right?”
