Mardi Gras Indians carry on tradition in painstakingly crafted suits

60 Minutes Overtime Mardi Gras Indians, or Black Masking Indians, carry on tradition in stunning, painstakingly crafted suits .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-60-minutes-overtime.jpg'); } By Bill Whitaker, Bill Whitaker 60 Minutes Correspondent Bill Whitaker is an award-winning journalist and 60 Minutes correspondent who has covered major news stories, domestically and across the globe, for more than four decades with CBS News. Read Full Bio Bill Whitaker, Aliza Chasan, Aliza Chasan Digital Content Producer Aliza Chasan is a Digital Content Producer for "60 Minutes" and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics. Read Full Bio Aliza Chasan, Nichole Marks, Nichole Marks Nichole Marks is a producer at 60 Minutes, where she's covered a wide range of topics, including science, technology, the arts, breaking news and investigations for the last 16 years. Previously, she worked at the CBS Evening News and CBS Weekend News. Read Full Bio Nichole Marks, Emily Cameron April 5, 2026 / 7:00 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Big Chief Demond Melancon is so devoted to making the elaborate, beaded suits he wears on Mardi Gras day that once it lost him his home. Melancon participates in New Orleans' Black Masking tradition, better known as the Mardi Gras Indians. Broken up into groups, what they call tribes, Melancon and other members of the community roam some of the city's historically Black neighborhoods each year on Mardi Gras day, chanting and squaring off in mock battles, in competition to show whose suit is, in their words, the prettiest.It's a culture that has been passed down for generations, and tribe members spend countless hours and thousands of dollars sewing and adorning their suits with tiny beads, plumes and rhinestones over the course of a year, all with the...