Mary Jane Manigault (June 13, 1913 – November 8, 2010) was a sweetgrass basket maker from

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina Mount Pleasant is a large suburban town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. In the Low Country, it is the fourth largest municipality and largest town in South Carolina, and for several years was one of the state's fastest-growin ...

. She began sweetgrass basket-weaving at a young age, and the tradition has been continued by her children and grandchildren. The art of sweetgrass basket-weaving is an important tradition in the

Gullah The Gullah () are an African Americans, African American ethnic group who predominantly live in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, within the coastal plain ...

culture and has been a prominent practice in communities brought over to the United States as early slaves. She was a recipient of a 1984

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...

awarded by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Early life

Manigault was born in 1913 in

to Solomon and Sally Coakley. She learned sweetgrass basket-weaving at a young age from her mother, saying "My mother taught me how to make baskets when I was eight years old".

Sweetgrass basket weaving

Sweetgrass basket weaving is an art form that gained popularity among African-Americans living off the coast of the southeastern United States during the 17th century. Sweetgrass baskets were originally woven for the cultivation of rice. Europeans depended on the enslaved African's knowledge of agriculture to create specialized tools. As time passed, the uses for sweetgrass baskets pivoted from field use to a variety of other uses such as picnics, sewing baskets, church collection, laundry, and many more. Sweetgrass baskets often vary in design but regularly use materials such as bulrush, oak, hickory, and palmetto.

Career and legacy

Manigault was a successful basket-weaver at a young age, and ran a basket stand in 1962 on U.S. highway 17 just north of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. In the mid-1970s, Manigault moved her basket-weaving enterprise to Charleston's City Market. In the later years of her career, Manigault continued to weave magnificent baskets at her family home in Hamlin Beach. In 1984, Manigault was named a National Heritage Fellow by the

. The award recognizes outstanding American folk artists. Mary Jane Manigault suffered a stroke in late 2000, but stated, "I'm going to keep making baskets, as long as I can". Manigault's sweetgrass baskets have been displayed in many museums, including the Santa Fe Folk Art Museum, the William Mathers Anthropology Museum at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

, the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

, and McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina. Mary Jane Manigault's children and grandchildren continue the tradition of making and selling sweetgrass baskets. Manigault's eldest daughter, Mary Jane Habersham, runs a basket stand on Highway 17 saying, "I will keep the tradition going on".

Death

Mary Jane Manigault died on November 8, 2010 in her Hamlin Beach home after suffering a seizure, at the age of 97. Manigault had been suffering from sporadic seizures for a year prior to her death and was hospitalized numerous times. Manigault's daughter-in-law, Shirley, recalls her strength in her final months stating "every time she would get sick and go to the hospital, when she came home, her mind was fine".

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manigault, Mary Jane Women basketweavers Artists from South Carolina 1913 births 2010 deaths National Heritage Fellowship winners