Work Basket, Sapelo Island, Georgia, 1850-1900
notes: label: Description
content: The Lowcountry (coastal) region of the Carolinas and Georgia and the nearby Atlantic Sea Islands were and continue to be home to a distinctive regional African American culture that is now recognized as the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. By the 1680s, rice began to be grown on the coast. By the mid-1700s, rice became the dominant cash crop for the region. Plantation owners wanted enslaved people from West Africa who already knew the complicated process required for growing rice. The work of these enslaved Africans made the Carolina rice planters the richest planters in the American colonies. The distinctive cultures that West African people brought included the knowledge of how to make coiled grass baskets for a variety of uses. This bulrush work basket was made on Sapelo Island, Georgia, sometime between 1850 and 1900. On the Sea Islands, the primary crop was very soft and expensive cotton, known as “Sea Island Cotton.” Rice was grown only for local consumption along with potatoes and other vegetables.
place: label: place made
content: United States: Georgia, Sapelo Island, Sapelo Island
topic: label: Subject
content: Blacks
label: Subject
content: African American
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ethnic
label: See more items in
content: Many Voices, One Nation
label: Exhibition
content: Many Voices, One Nation
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Dr. Baruch S. Blumberg
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CL.401992
label: catalog number
content: 401992
label: accession number
content: 251760
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Basket
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fiber, plant (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: grass, swamp (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: coiled (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6.5 cm x 35 cm x 35 cm; 2 9/16 in x 13 25/32 in x 13 25/32 in