Lucreaty Clark, White Oak Basket Maker

Making the White Oak Basket

To make a basket, Clark would start by finding a white oak tree of a specific size and width. Once she selected and cut down a tree, Clark would split the white oak logs into thin strips, or "splits." White oak splits are naturally pliable and do not need to be soaked in water to make them softer, as with other woods. After trimming the splits with a knife, Clark would weave the basket from the bottom up. There were no formal plans to guide her, nor were any measurements taken during the process. The final step was finishing the rim.

The Interviews

Clark described white oak basketry in great detail in the interviews conducted by the Florida Folklife Program. She also discussed her life, talking about games she played as a child, food she ate growing up, her family, and her religious beliefs.

When the recordings were made, Lucreaty Clark was the last known living white oak basket maker in the state of Florida. During the interviews, she stated that the tradition would probably disappear once she died. But soon after the interviews, Clark's grandson Alphonso Jennings began to learn the specialized basketry. Shortly before Clark died in 1986, Jennings completed an apprenticeship program with his grandmother sponsored by the Florida Folklife Program. Before his death in 2007, Jennings gained a national reputation for making durable, finely crafted, functional baskets. Their work represented the essence of folklife: living traditions passed down from one generation to the next.