The group has maintained the essential elements and rituals of masking pre-dawn on Mardi Gras day dressed in hand-made suits as skeletons to honor ancestors. They also bring strong social warnings to citizens about living life in moderation of lustful things like alcohol, drugs and violence that can expediate death. This always vulnerable group of African descended males who’s enslaved ancestors masked even though they were marginalized by society has created a needs assessment to archive its history and traditions. We seek to archive, educate, perpetuate and preserve for future generations the cultural practices of the New Orleans Skeleton Gangs and other Black Masking groups.
Through collaborations of best practices and pedagogies with established archival institutions our hope is to create the housing of audio, motion film, photography, oral histoires, written docs, and physical materials that can be preserved and digitized for catalogue, websites and other platforms.