An illustration by Alexander de Batz depicts eight Indigenous people and one boy of African descent. One of the individuals is an Ishak person wearing a feather headdress, sporting facial tattoos, and carrying a calumet, a ceremonial pipe.
The caption of this painting refers to one of the individuals as an “Ishak person”; to be clear, Ishak was the self-designated name of this tribe. It translates to "The People". The Ishak people were referred to as Hattak Apa by outside native groups, which Europeans then turned into Atakapa, meaning “eaters of men”. This terminology was used to justify the mistreatment of the Ishak by the Europeans. This tribe, according to Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, was one of the first documented tribes to have a cultural acceptance of transgender people and have non-heterosexual marriages. | Source: 64 Parishes. “Ishak Indigenous People - 64 Parishes,” February 19, 2024. https://64parishes.org/entry/ishak-indigenous-people.Download Original File
Source
64 Parishes. “Ishak Indigenous People - 64 Parishes,” February 19, 2024. https://64parishes.org/entry/ishak-indigenous-people.
"An illustration by Alexander de Batz depicts eight Indigenous people and one boy of African descent. One of the individuals is an Ishak person wearing a feather headdress, sporting facial tattoos, and carrying a calumet, a ceremonial pipe." appears in: The Atakapa: A Brief History
