Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals | Bruce Greenstein, Secretary

Living Well In American Indian Communities

Queen Chief Elwin Warhorse Gillum is the Queen of Tchefuncta Nation and the Chief of the Chahta Tribe. As appointed by the 365 Elders (Blood Members) of the Tribe, she was appointed the Chief of the Tribe in 1998 and

Queen Chief Elwin Warhorse Gillum

took the throne of the Nation in 2009, when she brought the Nation out of exile. She has been married for 36 years and is the mother of three children.

Prior to becoming the Tribal Chief, Chief Warhorse was a civil rights leader and served under the leadership of Dr. Joseph E. Lowery and the late Dr. Avery Alexander and numerous other Civil and Human rights leaders. She was a Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) national board member for 10 years and led the SCLC. She organized, implemented and participated in Civil Rights marches in the Southeast United States and worked on national and international projects. She has been an active civil and human rights advocate, educating others on the damage of the eugenics movement and racial integrity, and how to overcome and combat their effects.

In 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010, she worked with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau on census representation in the American Indian Community. She worked countless volunteer hours, trained bureau staff and worked with the community to ensure representation. For her efforts, she received an award. In the 1990s Queen Chief Warhorse was presented with a Humanitarian Award by W.D. Mohammad, a Muslim leader, for her work as a Christian leader in the Muslim Community. In 1991, she created and developed the first minority/majority district in St. Tammany Parish to create a voter’s block for better representation.

In 2000, under President Clinton’s Administration, Queen Chief Warhorse was appointed as a member to the African Summit with a focus on minority issues. In 2004, she founded “Save the Chahta Indian Tribe," a nonprofit organization that was initially created to work in disaster preparedness efforts. She formulated the Community Preparedness Response Network (CPRN) that brought all necessary emergency response agencies together, to respond in a coherent, efficient manner in emergency situations.

In 2005, Chief Warhorse was featured in Jet Magazines Tribal tribute for her work in Civil Rights as an SCLC national board member and leader. In November 2011, the Queen Chief, along with two direct descendent Great-Aunts, ancestors of the Chahta Tribe, will be on exhibit for one year in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Museum in Madisonville, Louisiana. This exhibit features the lives and contribution of these strong Black Indian Matriarchs of the Tribe. Queen Chief Warhorse is an advocate for the youth, senior citizens, the disabled and the family. She is a spiritual leader and works with individuals in spiritual rehabilitation and detoxification. She works on educational and health issues to include obesity, cancer, HIV/Aids, hepatitis, and lifestyle diseases to help inform and educated those communities most affected. She is a motivational speaker on a multitude of topics, a television and radio co-host, the Queen of a Nation, Chief of a Tribe, a farmer, an educator and advocate, a community organizer and spiritual leader.