Documents — Lucreaty Clark, White Oak Basket Maker

Lucreaty Clark was born in Lamont, Florida, in 1904. Here she learned to make white oak baskets from her parents. Her mother and father originally made white oak baskets for use on the North Florida plantation where they lived and worked. Oak splint baskets were primarily used on plantations in north and north-central Florida, an area where white oak trees are naturally found.

Clark described white oak basketry in great detail in several interviews conducted by the Florida Folklife Program in 1979 and 1980. She also discussed her life, including games she played as a child, food she remembered eating, her family, and her religious beliefs. Florida folklorist Peggy Bulger served as the interviewer and photographer. Folklife Program staff compiled photographs and selections from these interviews to create a slide-tape show called It'll Be Gone When I'm Gone; that slide-tape show is the source of the sounds and images on this web page.