Deadhead America VBS Activation
To:
Joint Study Group America at 250
Katrina Warriors Reunion
VBS Pro-democracy Picnic
Mardi Gras Indian Nation
Deadhead America
Activation maneuvers
Festival Season 2026
Contents: Opening video program and information literacy workout appropriate for all ages
Topic: Meet the Mardi Gras Indians
Visitors,
Here the start of festival season 2026, veteran CBS journalist Bill Whitaker and segment producer Nichole Marks successfully carried Mardi Gras Indian signal through 60 Minutes (CBS USA) to national and global audiences. The title of his segment is “One of America’s last true secret societies: The Mardi Gras Indians.”
CBS News. (2026, April 5). One of America’s last true secret societies: The Mardi Gras Indians [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/dz1LYJBZp84
CBS News. (2026, April 6). Mardi Gras Indian tribe tradition. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mardi-gras-indian-tribe-tradition-60-minutes/
CAITBC notes and salutes this signal exploit and all who contributed.
Ashé!
The Lesson
National broadcast does not originate signal.
It reflects, shapes, and extends it.
To hold the record, place CBS News segment alongside materials that document practice, process, and continuity across time.
If you are intrigued by meeting the Chiefs Bill Whitaker profiles in his 60 Minutes piece, keep going.
The following video thread introduces the practice and teaching of Guardians of the Flame Maroon Queen Cherice Harrison-Nelson.
WWOZ’s Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame All Stars – Live from WWOZ (WWOZ, 2015, March 13) records performance without translation. Voice, rhythm, and relation carry the work.
WWOZ. (2015, March 13). Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame All Stars – Live from WWOZ [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Egb953_0ubw
Queens Rule! (Strother, Olsen, Corbett, Xhu, Luo, & Benina, 2008), produced in collaboration with the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame and presented at the Jazz Fest Grandstand during the Katrina Warriors Superlove period, centers Queens as subjects and carriers.
Strother, G., Olsen, K., Corbett, K., Xhu, J.-J., Luo, X., & Benina, Y. (2008). Queens Rule! [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/e14EMZ8C-5g
146 Days to Mardi Gras (Strother & Olsen, 2009) documents Cherice Harrison-Nelson sewing and counting down to Mardi Gras 2010 while serving as Visiting Scholar at NCCROW.
Strother, G., & Olsen, K. (2009). 146 Days to Mardi Gras [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/4h8OdiInG1k
Notice
Across these records:
practice continues
roles remain specific and apprenticed
names matter
the line holds
Outside the culture itself, Deadhead America provides the stance.
Do not collapse this into a single narrative.
Maintain
tribe names
names of individual maskers
role clarity
multiple records in circulation
If it holds, pass it.
If it doesn’t, drop it (but file it).
This work is not discovered.
It is made and maintained through time.
Proceed?
Keywords for Further Exploration
As you watch the videos, jot down keywords and names that jump out to you
Use these as search strings and tags, alone and in combination.
Some starter terms
Mardi Gras Indians
Black Masking Indians
Mardi Gras Indian Queens New Orleans
Cherice Harrison-Nelson
Mardi Gras Indian suit sewing
beadwork New Orleans Indians
Mardi Gras Indian photography
New Orleans Jazz Festival
WWOZ Mardi Gras Indians
Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame
Newcomb College Center for Research on Women
Katrina Warriors
#Katrina20
Information literacy brief
ACRL Information Literacy Framework map
ACRL is the Association of College and Research Libraries of the American Library Association.
Association of College and Research Libraries. (2016). Framework for information literacy for higher education. American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
1 Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
Tribe names, roles (Big Chief, Queen), and lineage = primary authority
National media = secondary framing authority
Task
distinguish who is speaking
recognize local authority over external narration
2 Information Creation as a Process
WWOZ recording → live capture
Queens Rule! → collaborative documentation
146 Days → process record
60 Minutes → edited broadcast
Each format shapes meaning differently.
Task
identify how the form affects the message
do not treat all sources as equivalent
3 Information Has Value
Cultural knowledge is labor-intensive, relational, and not freely extractable.
Task
respect attribution
maintain provenance
avoid flattening into content
4 Research as Inquiry
Guiding questions
What is being shown versus what is being left out
How does meaning change across platforms
What holds across time
Task
keep inquiry open
resist premature conclusions
5 Scholarship as Conversation
WWOZ, NCCROW, Hall of Fame, CBS operate as different participants in a conversation.
No single source is final.
Task
place sources in relation
allow multiple voices to stand
6 Searching as Strategic Exploration
Use multiple keywords and combinations.
Move among local archives, institutional sources, and live media.
Task
track patterns, not just results
follow what repeats across contexts
Operational Line
Name correctly.
Track the route.
Keep the record usable.
This is fully aligned with
Deadhead America (movement + maintenance)
Library standard (authority + traceability)
Field practice (documentation without closure)
#Katrina20 Lagniappe Challenge
Observe Mardi Gras Indians in action in the #Katrina20 ritual at the site of the Industrial Canal breach via the following Bluesky dropping of 31 August 2025
Katrina Warriors Reunion
Rising Tide NOLA XIX
@Reuters.com had an excellent live camera at the #Katrina20 memorial ceremony coordinated by
@hiphopcaucus.bsky.social at the site of the Industrial Canal levee breech in the Lower 9th Ward
Reuters. (2025, August 29). Live: New Orleans marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina landfall [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/live/8npWG-D0qPM
Observe and discuss.