By Belinda Brooks
The Butte Tribe of Bayou Bourbeaux recently held its 2024 Annual Fall Gathering. The day’s main event was the unveiling of the Desadier Native American School House Louisiana Historical Highway Marker.
Special Speaker Rhonda Gauthier was invited to educate those attending on the importance of the tribal circle and round dancing. Gauthier is a specialist in preserving Louisiana’s traditional folklife. Retired from Louisiana Cultural Recreation and Tourism and a member of the Ebarb Choctaw Apache Tribe of Zwolle, Louisiana, she works as an interpretive specialist at the Los Adaes Historical Park. She is an alumnus of Northwestern State University with degrees in Anthropology and History. Rhonda is the President of the Ho Minti Society. Ho Minti is a Choctaw phrase meaning “Y‘all come.” As a non-profit community organization, Ho Minti Society calls for a coming together and returning to traditional American Indian ways of knowing and doing. The name also suggests a kind of in-gathering and renewal necessary for the Native American culture to survive and prosper. Gauthier invited everyone to attend a Ho Minti arts and crafts event to be held at Los Adaes on Oct. 19 from 12-4 PM. Vendors are invited to set up arts and crafts tents.
The main event of the Fall Gathering was unveiling the Louisiana Historical Highway Marker in memory of the Desadier Native American School House. Tribe member Kimberly Marine wore beautiful elk regalia created in honor of this event that depicted the oral history story of the loss of eight tribal children. The story tells of U.S. forces riding into the tribal village. The children were abducted and taken to a Native American boarding school to assimilate them to the ways of the white man. This story was the antecedent to the building of the Desadier Native American School House. Chief Hawkeye, Joseph Desadier, built the school to avoid another snatching of tribal children by the federal government. LSU and the Louisiana State Highway Department authorized the placement of the Historical Desadier Native American School marker at the Pace Community Recreational Center in Natchitoches Parish.
Tribal leaders skilled in Native American arts and crafts shared their skills for the enjoyment of those attending. Chief Collum saddled up two of his parade horses, which created excitement for those who wanted to mount, ride, and take pictures.
Following a tribal tradition, Butte tribe members planted a 12 ft. live oak tree in honor of their chief, Rodger Collum. Tribal men planted the tree next to a tree planted approximately 50 years ago for Collum’s great-grandmother, Victoria Fee Flores Desadier, who lived to be 108 years old.
The most exciting part of the day was the arrival of a certified letter from the Department of the Interior—Bureau of Indian Affairs—delivered to Chief Rodger Collum. In May 2023, the Butte Tribe petitioned the federal government for tribal acknowledgment. Butte Tribe’s assigned personnel spent several years preparing documentation, proof of claims, and ancestral charts with documentation of parentage for each Native American ancestor of each Butte Tribe member. The petition acknowledgment process is a long one. The beginning of each new phase of recognition is exciting. Many thanks go out from the tribe to Vice Chief Belinda Brooks, petition historian and writer; Council Chief Bella Haag, Tribal Secretary of State and document formatter in charge of submission and communications with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA); Member Brenda Key, member in charge of boxing and shipping; and several others who participated in the final submission of the 70,000+ page document.
Butte Tribe would like to thank all the faithful, active members for their commitment to working above and beyond the tribal call to make the event such a successful one.
