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Clifton Choctaw Oval Basket
The Clifton Choctaw community, whose members are descended from 18th century Choctaw, Chatot (a Native American tribe), and Creole families, has a long history. The community is located in Clifton, Louisiana, a rural area in northwestern Rapides Parish.
When Americans began to pour into the Red River valley after the Louisiana Purchase, Indian people like the Clifton Choctaw sought refuge in the hills and piney woods of western Louisiana. These isolated groups of people, including the Clifton Choctaw, became self-sustaining and rarely interacted with outsiders. Their isolation allowed them to conserve crafts traditions that might otherwise have been lost.
In the 1960s, Claude Medford, Jr., introduced pine straw basketry to the Clifton community, whose weavers no longer maintained a split cane tradition. Today, tribal weavers are among some of the most accomplished pine straw basketmakers in the state. Community craftspeople today maintain a number of other traditional folkways including white oak basketry, quilting, tupelo bowl carving, herbal knowledge, turkey tail fan-making, beadwork, and foodways.
For more about the Clifton Choctaw community, see also Splittin on the Grain: Folk Art in Clifton, Louisiana.
North Louisiana
Native American
Pine Straw and Raffia
Photo: Thomas A. Wintz, Jr.
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