Lionel Delpit, Big Chief of the Black Feather Mardi Gras Indian tribe passed away at the age of 54. First masking Indian with the Yellow Pocahontas under Big Chief Tootie Montana, Delpit helped co-found the Black Feather in 1992. Saturday, July 16, a large crowd walked with the Stooges Brass Band (whose leader, Walter Ramsey, is a member of Black Feather) and members of the Sudan and Revolution Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs in a procession along St. Claude Avenue to St. Bernard Avenue, and up to the Claiborne, where the crowd sang Mardi Gras Indian chants underneath the overpass.

All photos were taken by Kim Welsh.

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