Kylie Malveaux

In Good Hands

At only seventeen, Kylie Malveaux is stepping up to preserve her Tunica-Biloxi culture

Story by Alexandra Kennon * Photos by Olivia Perillo

Today, in the tiny prairie town of Moreauville in Avoyelles Parish, Kylie Malveaux, like many high school seniors, is completing her last semester of classes, touring universities, attending cheer practice. She’s volunteering in her community, organizing drives for the food pantry, and was recently selected as the Rotary Club’s debutante—around the same time that her classmates voted her the Avoyelles High Homecoming Queen. And in April, she took home the title of Prom Queen, too. Like her peers, Malveaux is looking to the future, but she is doing so with a deep appreciation for the past—and with a dedication to honoring her own Tunica-Biloxi heritage.

Malveaux currently serves as Vice Chair of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana’s Seventh Generation Youth Council, a group of seven fourteen to twenty-two year olds who help serve as a voice for the younger tribal members, and organize and assist with educational opportunities to help move Tunica-Biloxi culture forward into the future.

When we spoke, Malveaux and the Seventh Generation Youth Council were looking forward to and helping prepare for the Tribe’s 25th annual Powwow on the Reservation in Marksville, coming up May 20–21. “While the annual Powwow serves as a much-needed homecoming for Tunica-Biloxi citizens throughout the nation, the upcoming 25th-anniversary celebration is especially important after being separated by time and pandemic for the past three years,” current Tunica-Biloxi Chairman Marshall Pierite said in a statement. “This year’s celebration is a reminder of our fellowship with other Native American Tribes and the importance of honoring our native cultures while our reach continues to grow nationwide.”

“So that's basically why I want to be involved,” Malveaux said. “I actually want to be a voice for the youth.”

This level of appreciation for one’s own culture, and drive to preserve and share it—especially from the tribe’s youth—is crucial for the Tunica-Biloxi way of life to carry forward. It’s especially important when one considers the Tribe’s long struggle for economic equality and land retention in Louisiana, which at points pushed the language and culture to the brink of oblivion.

Kylie Malveaux

Olivia Perillo

“Cherishing Our Past”

When writing or speaking on the cultural tapestry of Louisiana, credence is usually given to the French, Spanish, Africans, Germans, and Acadians; contributions from the Native Americans are often mentioned in a passing acknowledgement of those who first called the land home and established their way of life here. This generalized assessment neglects to acknowledge that the Native Americans who first settled Louisiana, and those who still do, established their own distinct, long-held tribal cultures, which wove together to create a landscape of lifeways more indigenous to Louisiana than any European imports.

While many of the Native tribes who first called Louisiana home were systematically forced to relocate, especially after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, four Louisiana-based tribes maintain federal recognition today: the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, and the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana; with eleven additional tribes that are recognized by the state. As Jim Crow laws were imposed in Louisiana at the end of the 19th century, Native Americans were further disenfranchised, by being labeled as “mixed race” and grouped with Black individuals.

Over the course of the last century, Louisiana’s Native tribes have struggled against almost-insurmountable odds to preserve their ways of life. By 1925, Chief Eli Barbry succeeded in unifying the Tunica, the Biloxi, the Jena Choctaw, the Coushatta of Allen Parish, and the Chitimacha of St. Mary Parish. A document from the Department of the Interior naming Barbry Chief of these groups states their reason for unification was “… union of the people of our race, to promote our welfare and to secure for ourselves and our descendants’ educational and religious training, to the end of our becoming better citizens of this American Nation…”

Though this union brought federal recognition and unity among Native Americans in Louisiana, the Tunica culture continued to dwindle against the threats of discrimination, which spurred migration out of Louisiana, and assimilation into western culture. Efforts to secure federal protection of ancestral lands and economic aid to increase educational opportunities and improve conditions were largely disregarded. Even as many of the last surviving fluent speakers of the Tunica language passed away, the Tunica-Biloxi ensured that their language and cultural traditions lived on, "sometimes in bits and pieces, and sometimes in the minute threads of everyday existence,” according to the tribe’s website.

Following decades of government neglect and absence from federal and local politics, Chief Joseph Alcide returned the Tunica-Biloxi to the national consciousness in the 1970s, joining the national wave of Native American activism. This allowed Chairman Earl J. Barbry, Sr. (the previous title of Chief was changed to Chairman), to continue the work begun by his grandfather and secure the Tunica-Biloxi’s official federal recognition in 1981.

In the summer of 1994, the Tunica-Biloxi opened Grand Casino Avoyelles, today the Paragon Casino Resort, which transformed Avoyelles from one of the least-prosperous Louisiana parishes into a successful local economy—Paragon today is one of the largest employers in Central Louisiana, and has enabled the Tribe to distribute over $40 million in funds to local governments since its recognition in 1981.

This revitalization has encouraged many of tribal descent to return to their rightful land in Central Louisiana, both to live and to carry on the torch of preserving tribal culture. According to the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana’s website, “New generations are taking up the mantle of responsibility for business, government and community leadership. They face the rigors of self-rule and daily challenges to tribal sovereignty, while honoring the Tunica-Biloxi motto: ‘Cherishing our past and building for our future.’” Today, there are over 1,500 tribal members of the Tunica-Biloxi in and around Avoyelles Parish, as well as living in Texas and in Chicago.

“Building for Our Future”

Malveaux herself is descended from generation upon generation of Tunica-Biloxi. She grew up attending the Tribe’s educational summer programs and language camp, which were established with the mission of forwarding tribal culture and fostering knowledge and appreciation in kids with tribal heritage. “We would learn the Tunica language, we would also go on tours, learn more about where we've come from and our background,” Malveaux explained. “And it's really a great opportunity. Also with summer camp, all the cousins, the family members, would all go on the Reservation, like hang out … It was really cool.”

These educational opportunities have fostered in Malveaux a pride and appreciation for her Tunica-Biloxi heritage, which she hopes to help instill in others through her work on the Seventh Generation Council, which she has served on since fall of 2022. “Me and the other chairman, we actually plan meetings, we talk about things that we want to see in the future … Also we set up calls, we make arrangements for the other Youth Council to go out and do things for the youth,” Malveaux told me. “We set up meetings with the Elders Council, or to get their point of view on some things and actually reach out to them for, you know, just moral support or help.”

To be selected as a member of the Seventh Generation Youth Council, nominated young people go through a process of interviewing with members of the Tribal Council (the Tribe’s leadership also includes the regular Tribal Council, as well as an Elders Council or “Wisdom Keepers” made up of leaders over the age of fifty-five). Terms on each council last for two years.

“Leadership, unity, and relationships within our Elders Council, Youth Council, and Tribal Council are incredibly important to the Tribe’s success. We are a reflection of one another,” explained Elder Council Chairwoman Joanie Arteta. "Kylie Malveaux and our Seventh Generation Youth Council are a great significance, as they are not just representatives of the Tribe they serve, but they represent the younger generations and leaders of tomorrow. If we want to build strong leaders, we must provide them with mentorship, support, and the life skills that help build and encourage confidence, growth, productive relationships in life, both personally and professionally, and how to navigate through challenges of life and profession.”

Looking into the future, Malveaux plans to attend Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and to major in business before attending law school, perhaps then becoming a family judge or attorney. “Moving forward, I think I actually want to come back and work for the Tribe,” Malveaux told me, mentioning that she’s considered how rewarding it would be to return to serve as the tribal judge, who helps with swearing-in ceremonies and other legal proceedings. “And I think maybe in the future, I actually want to seek to be on the ‘Council Council’.”

Malveaux’s ambition and commitment to her community emerge from a tradition of women leaders within her family. Her grandmother, Beryl Holmes, is currently Moreauville’s first female mayor, and the first mayor of Native American/African American ancestry. Her mother, as well, has always demonstrated deep community involvement. Malveaux explained that her mother Richella’s uncle is the Tribe’s current Chairman, Marshall Pierite. “Anything that he needs, events, we’re there.”

“[I’m] so impressed with Kylie. She is the epitome of [an] extraordinary young leader,” Arteta said. “We look forward to all the amazing things Kylie will do, as our Tunica-Biloxi future leader of tomorrow.”

While Malveaux enjoys helping with any needs that arise within the tribal community or larger Avoyelles Parish, she hopes that in the future more young people will be encouraged to get involved with the Tribe and its leadership, too.

“Maybe get more people involved, have everyone lend a helping hand, because, if you think about it, really the only people that are really involved is the Council,” Malveaux told me. “And moving forward, we just need our heritage to live on—because if not the Youth Council, then who? We have no one else to bring it forward.”

The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe’s 25th-Annual Powwow will be at the Chief Joseph Alcide Pierite Powwow Grounds on the Marksville Reservation on May 20–21. There will also be an Education Day on May 19, where local school children are invited to learn more about Native American traditions. Learn more at tunicabiloxi.org.