Mardi Gras Indians spend months preparing hand-sewn suits

60 Minutes - Newsmakers Mardi Gras Indians, or Black Masking Indians, spend months, thousands of dollars preparing hand-sewn suits .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-60-minutes.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, 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 April 5, 2026 / 7:00 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Every year, on Mardi Gras morning, something extraordinary emerges from the backstreets of New Orleans – groups of Black revelers most tourists will never see. They call themselves Mardi Gras Indians, or Black Masking Indians, and they roam the city's neighborhoods in dazzling, hand-sewn suits. The tradition dates to the 1800s as a way to honor their ancestors and, according to Mardi Gras Indian lore, is rooted in profound respect for Native Americans, said to have sheltered enslaved Africans who had escaped. It's an expression of joy, protest and pride, passed from generation to generation. On this Easter Sunday, you'll meet the artists and musicians preserving the culture and take in the sights and sounds of one of America's last true secret societies.If you're lucky enough to find them, you'll discover a vibrant tapestry of African, Caribbean and Native American threads, part of the cultural gumbo that is New Orleans. These extravagant suits — plumed, bejeweled, beaded and sequined — are handcrafted in secret for an entire year, to be unveiled on Mardi Gras day. Chawaa - that'...