Basketmaking in South Carolina reflects the blending of Native American, European and African traditions to create two predominate types of baskets - the coiled baskets of the Lowcountry and woven baskets of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge. Native Americans used river cane to plait baskets, mats and fish traps. Europeans maintained Old World techniques and forms, adapting them to new materials like white oak to weave their harvest baskets and clothes hampers. On the coast, enslaved Africans brought their knowledge of rice production and introduced coiled basketry using local sweetgrass, bulrush, palmetto, and pine needles. Today, traditional basketmakers have adapted their forms to a changing market and most baskets are made for decorative use.
Content is provided by McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina.
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Interviewed by Dale Rosengarten Florence Mazyck discusses the amount of time it takes for bulrush to dry.
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Elbert Brown of Pendleton crafted split-oak baskets for over eighty years. He carried on a tradition that has been in his South Carolina upcountry family since the mid-nineteenth century. Brown...
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The document includes transcripts for Florence Mayzyck's audio.
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Basketmaker from Mt. Pleasant, SC (Charleston County).
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The document includes transcripts for Franklyn De Loach's audio.
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Split-oak basketmaker from Varnville, SC (Hampton County).
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Gale McKinley learned to make fish baskets by watching her father and grandfather. Her dad, Juby McKinley, is seventy-three years old, and he learned split-oak basket making from his dad, Amos...
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Interviewed by Dale Rosengarten Florence Mazyck talks about who helps her gather her sweet grass.
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Brown was no stranger to sweetgrass basketmaking. She was part of a family of eight generations of basket makers, with four of those generations still practicing today. Harriet made baskets for over...
