Interview with white oak basket maker Alphonso Jennings with apprentice Michael Steen

Basket maker

Fieldwork

Apprentices

White oak

Basket making

African Americans

Basket work

Basketry

Baskets

Weaving

Axes

Tools

Wood craft

Woodwork

One audio cassette. Apprentice Steen agreed to learn from Jennings to select, cut, split, and shape white oak strips, and weave them into baskets: four small trash baskets, one market basket, one Easter basket, one laundry basket, and one cotton basket. For more information on Noble, see S 1644, box 11, folder 26. The Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program began in 1983 with a NEA grant of $22,000. The program provided an opportunity for master folk artists to share technical skills and cultural knowledge with apprentices in order to keep the tradition alive. Apprentices must have had some experience in the tradition and agreed to train for at least six months. The first project director was Blanton Owen, later replaced by folklorist Peter Roller, and then Robert Stone. The program was continued each year through 2004.

State Archives of Florida, Series S1640

1994-01-15

Florida Folklife Program

sound recordings

audiocassettes

Sound

a_s1640_24_tape16

S1640

24

Tape 16

Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program

Stone, Robert, 1944-

Jennings, Alphonso, 1962-

Steen, Michael, 1965-

African American

mp3false

7075

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