(upbeat music) - New Orleans is a place where years of cultural diversity have combined into a kaleidoscope of music, food, and people.

- Natasha: For decades the Mardi Gras tribes have displayed their pride through elaborate hand beaded costumes, parades, and dances.

(upbeat music continues) - Down here, we refer to this as the culture.

- I think with Mardi Gras Indians, many of them are in fact of indigenous ancestry, and that is a way of expressing the person's indigenous ancestry.

- We look at our bead work, the beading style is actually African.

- Natasha: But now the traditions are threatened by gentrification and the Covid pandemic.

- Right after Hurricane Katrina, I saw that there was a potential for people coming into New Orleans and changing the dynamics of the city.

- I believe that we can't even truly measure the effects of Covid now, probably won't be able to in 5, 10 years.

- This is a culture killer, because the entire notion of gathering close together is no longer acceptable.

- Natasha: A new generation of Mardi Gras Indians are striving to keep the tradition alive.

- My name is Terrance Williams Jr. And I'm the Big chief of the Black Hawk Masking Indian Tribe.

- Natasha: Big Chief Black Hawk on America ReFramed.

Watch on World Channel and in the PBS app.