United Houma Nation Submits Supplemental Petition for Federal Recognition

Principal Chief Lora Ann Chaisson hand-delivers documents to federal acknowledgment office, continuing a decades-long effort

The United Houma Nation has hand-delivered a supplement to its petition for federal recognition to the Office of Federal Acknowledgment, marking another milestone in the Louisiana tribe’s decades-long effort to gain acknowledgment from the federal government.

Principal Chief Lora Ann Chaisson delivered the documents on Oct. 15 in Washington, D.C., accompanied by former Principal Chiefs Brenda Dardar Robichaux and Thomas Dardar, as well as members of the Nation’s legal and research team, including Arlinda Locklear, Heather Sibbison and Josh Pitre.

“Our people never needed a government to tell us who we are,” Chaisson said. “We knew who we were. We had our language, our culture, and our communities on the bayous of Louisiana. Federal recognition does not create our identity. It acknowledges what has always been true.”

A decades-long journey toward federal recognition

The Houma people have maintained their identity, traditions and community ties across generations. The effort to secure federal recognition gained momentum in the 1960s, when tribal leaders Chairwoman Helen Gindrat and Delores Terrebonne attended a National Congress of American Indians meeting to learn about the federal acknowledgment process.

They returned home determined to pursue recognition, launching an effort that has spanned decades.

The United Houma Nation filed its first letter of intent to petition for federal acknowledgment in 1979 and submitted its petition in 1984. In 1994, the Nation received a proposed negative finding and submitted a rebuttal in 1996.

The supplemental petition delivered Oct. 15, 2026, represents the latest chapter in that ongoing effort.

“Today we stood on the shoulders of the leaders who came before us,” Chaisson said. “Chairwoman Gindrat, Ms. Terrebonne, and so many of our elders started this fight with nothing but their determination and their love for our people.”

Having former Principal Chiefs Dardar Robichaux and Dardar alongside her during the delivery underscored the generations of leadership behind the effort, Chaisson said.

“We carried this petition in for every generation that has waited,” she said.

Nation calls supplement its strongest petition yet

The supplemental submission reflects years of work by the Nation’s legal team and researchers, many of whom have worked with the Houma people for decades.

Chaisson thanked the team and the Tribal Council for their commitment to the recognition effort and asked Houma citizens to continue keeping the process in their prayers as the federal review moves forward.

“We are proud of this petition,” Chaisson said. “It tells the true story of the Houma people, and we are confident it will be heard.”

Federal recognition is a formal acknowledgment of a tribe’s government-to-government relationship with the United States. The process involves federal review of evidence submitted by a petitioning group under established acknowledgment criteria.

The United Houma Nation is a state-recognized tribe whose citizens live throughout six parishes in southeastern Louisiana. The Houma people have sustained cultural traditions that include fishing, trapping, basket weaving and community life along the state’s coastal bayous.

For the Nation, the latest submission represents both a continuation of its pursuit of federal recognition and a tribute to the generations of Houma leaders and citizens who have worked to secure acknowledgment of their people’s longstanding identity and history.

Learn more about the United Houma Nation at unitedhoumanation.org.