Sewn Baskets

Baskets are woven – everyone knows that Not true for the baskets of the Gullah Geechee, who mainly live on the Atlantic coast of South Carolina and Georgia. These baskets are made from grasses, rushes, or pine needles and are sewn together using a coiling technique. The Gullah Geechee’s African origins, American history, and experience of exploitation become manifest in these baskets.

Baskets for Rice Plantations

The Gullah Geechee offer their baskets for sale on street stalls, at art markets, and in museum shops in many places in the coastal region around Charleston/South Carolina. These baskets have a wide range of shapes and sizes, with each basket artist giving them their own touch and constantly developing new shapes (fig. 1). Despite all of the creative freedom, the baskets have a long tradition. Many of their shapes refer back to historic examples – baskets that were used on the rice plantations along the North American Atlantic coast. There, baskets were essential tools in many areas of everyday life on the plantations. They were used to store and transport tools and food, such as fruit and vegetables, as well as to process the rice harvest. After threshing the rice grains, which was carried out in mortars, the rice was tossed, i. e. placed on flat wicker bowls and repeatedly thrown into the air in a light wind. The chaff flew away, while the grains of rice fell back into the basket and were filled into sacks.

Fig. 1: Sales stand with baskets made of sweet gras in Charleston (photo: B. Ihde, 2025).

Cultural Origin of the Baskets

The knowledge and skills required to manufacture the baskets – beginning with selecting and preparing suitable raw materials through to actually making the basket – were brought to America by the people transported from Africa. This knowledge was extremely in demand on the rice plantations and even increased the value of an enslaved person.

To this day, rushes, various grasses, pine needles around 30 cm long, and the leaves of the sabal palm (Sabal palmetto) are used as raw materials for making the baskets. Species of sweetgrass (Muhlenbergia filipes or M. capillaris) are particularly popular, as their surface is not as rough as that of the rushes. This is more pleasant on the hands during processing. Although baskets can only be counted towards actual textiles in a broader sense, Gullah Geechee produce their baskets by using the textile technique of sewing (cf. Rosengarten 2022: 3). The rushes, grasses, or pine needles are gathered into tufts, shaped into ropes, and then wrapped in strips of palmetto leaves. The ropes are coiled on top of each other and sewn together with strips of palmetto leaves, sometimes also oak bark. This technique is known as coiling and is also used in the manufacture of ceramics.

Baskets are still produced using the coiling technique today in many regions of Africa, especially along the west coast (fig. 3). Flat round baskets, as were used on the North American plantations to process rice, are also widespread in West Africa. The Oshiwambo, for example, who live in the border region of Namibia and Angola, still use these kinds of flat bowls today to serve food on special occasions (fig. 4). Many linguists also assume that the name “Gullah” is a reference to Angola (cf. New Georgia Encyclopedia). It could be derived from “Angola” and refer back to the first people transported to South Carolina from Africa. They came from the coast of present-day Angola.

Fig. 2: Baskets at a stall at the Village Artisanal Crafts Market on the Île de Sor in Saint-Louis-du-Senegal (photo: rweisswald / Schutterstock.com).

Fig. 3: Elilo basket plate, Oshiwambo/Namibia (photo: A. Kilian, 2021).

Cultural Heritage

The baskets of the Gullah Geechee mainly made today from sweetgrass and pine needles and, more rarely, from rushes are part of their cultural heritage and their cultural identity. The Gullah Geechee have been actively attempting to protect this from the American mainstream since the end of the 19^th century, as they are the only African-Creole population group in the USA. For instance, after the end of the American Civil War, a school was founded on the island of St. Helena, in which not only reading and writing but also traditional handicraft techniques were taught, such as the production of baskets. After rice cultivation was abandoned on the North American Atlantic coast at the beginning of the 20^th century, basket production gained new importance for the Gullah Geechee population: They now generated part of their income from this and sold the baskets to tourists. The economic importance of the baskets continues to this day, as shown by the many stalls along Highway 17 and in the city of Charleston (figs. 6 + 7). At the same time, they symbolize the cultural resilience of the Gullah Geechee, who have passed on their knowledge and skills relating to the manufacture of the baskets from one generation to the next since their ancestors were transported to America.

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Further Reading

Cooper, Melissa L. 2017. Making Gullah: A History of Sapelo Islanders, Race, and the American Imagination. University of North Carolina Press.

Cross, Wilbur, 2008. Gullah Culture in America. Westport/Connecticut: Praeger.

New Georgia Ecyclopedia. Art. Gullah Geechee Culture. (https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/geechee-and-gullah-culture)

Pollitzer, William S. 1999. The Gullah People and Their African Heritage. University of Georgia Press, Athens.

Rosengarten, Dale, 2022 (4^th ed.). Row upon Row. Sea Grass Baskets of the South Carolina Lowcountry. McKissick Museum. The University of South Carolina Press.