Upon visiting the Chitimacha Reservation, many people ask the question, "Where did you originally come from?" The answer has been the same, from generation to generation "We have always been here" Proud of our ancestors, proud of the prehistoric Chitimacha who developed a full-fledged civilization, and proud of the subsequent generations that have faced extinction, but survived with a determination to preserve their native identity.

     Old historical documents list the Chitimacha as members of "a great and mighty nation", but state that the Chitimacha suffered drastic reductions in both population and land holdings over the years, due to successive intrusions by the French, Spanish and English. Then, in 1706, the Chitimacha lost many of their people in a protracted war with the French. Although many were killed trying to defend their lands and families, and many others were captured and sold into slavery, the Chitimacha legacy survived. By the early 1900's, the tribe was down to six distinct families, numbering under 100 people total. In 1917, the Chitimacha Tribe was the first to be a federally recognized tribe in Louisiana. They are the only tribe in Louisiana that still retains some of their original tribal lands. Today, the Chitimacha have approximately 900 members on the Tribal roles, which contain the names of all Tribal members.  There is a large Tribal contingency in New Orleans, but many of the Chitimacha's still live on the ancestral lands of the Chitimacha Reservation in Charenton, Louisiana.

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 The Tribal Council, in defining its responsibilities to their people, adopted the following statement on June 8, 1996: