Historical Marker
The Atakapa-Coushatta Trace
Merryville, Beauregard County · Louisiana
The Ishak speak a language called Ishakkoy, written down in the late 1800s and early 1900s and now being revived. Linguist David Kaufman devised a new orthography and a revised dictionary, and Geoffrey Kimball published a grammar. Ishak baskets are held by major museums, among them the National Museum of the American Indian. Many Ishak today have African ancestry and call themselves Creoles, and one scholar's account ties their lack of federal recognition partly to prejudice against people of mixed African and Native descent. No Ishak group holds federal recognition today.
Where it stands
30.75848, -93.54557 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Site of the Coushatta Indian Village — steps away
- Charles "Leather Bitches" Smith — 0.3 mi
- Sam Houston Jones — 0.4 mi
- Leather Britches — 0.4 mi