Return to Yakni Chitto: Houma Migrations
Hundreds of years ago, Terrebonne Parish was known to Indigenous peoples as "Yakni Chitto,"
which means "Big Country." Located between the Mississippi and Atchafalaya, Monique's father's
parents were born along Bayou Pointe-aux-Chenes into a small Houma community. Migrating to Lower St. Bernard Parish each winter to trap, they eventually bought land along Bayou Terre-aux-
Boeufs. Monique spent a large part of her childhood with her grandmother, Armantine Marie Bil-
liot Verdin, and in the 1990s began to document their family's deep connection to South Louisiana in black and white photographs. As she writes in the book, "I've been trying to make sense of the strange beauty left here--the
magic that is entangled in the ugliest underbelly of a plantation economy surrendered to the
petro-chemical industry." In conversation with writers, family members, and theatre-makers,
Monique shares how multiracial collectives in South Louisiana have come together to honor and
protect their homes and work towards a shared future.
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