top of page

Photos: Fat Tuesday in New Orleans shows Black masking Indians in all their Mardi Gras glory

Staff
Feb 25
1 min read

Big Chief Shaka Zulu and the Golden Feather Hunters welcome us into a hallowed space

Note: This is the fourth in a series on Mardi Gras and its role in Black communities.

On Fat Tuesday, the Mardi Gras Indians are hard to miss, with their bright and colorful handmade headdresses and suits. But the beautiful regalia is only the surface. Seeing Black people celebrate their own history and communities is profound, picturesque and also spiritual. Big Chief Shaka Zulu and the Golden Feather Hunters welcomed us into a hallowed space; the images we captured are a foreword to inextricably woven stories of culture, art and race.

© 2026 Tafari Meliziswe for The Lighthouse | Black Girl Projects

Recent Posts

Two photos: An older woman with light skin and two ponytails hanging down her front wears an elaborate Mardi Gras costume with a neon green bodice with blue and white beads, paired with peach feathers. The second queen stands in the middle of the street in a bright orange costume paired with orange feathers and headpiece.

When queens go to war

A Black woman with fair skin wears a bold orange costume covered with feathers. She holds a staff almost as tall as ahe is also covered with orange feathers and beads.

The power behind the Mardi Gras mask

A little Black girl wearing a sky blue costume: a headband with a blue feather, a chest plate with a beaded cartoon Goofy in the center and Minnie Mouse on the skirt and blue flats, holds hands with her mother in a long-sleeved costume of the same sky blue color, except hers has a woman that resembles Pocahontas on the chest and skirt.

New Orleans: America’s most African city

Comments

bottom of page