Something(s) I am thinking about: Tobacco Baskets
Antique Tobacco Barn, Asheville, NC. 2020.
Mellanee Goodman
Something(s) I am thinking about: Tobacco Baskets
by Mellanee Goodman
The absence and resistance of historical context surrounding an object is an intriguing instance of sorts. Being a student of critical craft theory, my passion and research is Afro American craft history and material culture. This, combined with having a true admiration for antiquing, I have arrived at the dilemma I present to you now.
Trailing through antique shops in Asheville, North Carolina, I noticed a repetition. A repetition of an object. The object? Tobacco baskets. I began to ponder the history behind such an object, and my mind stretched to the institution of slavery in Appalachia - the labor of the enslaved - tobacco as a cash crop. What can be communicated about the person behind (or inside) of the basket? I wonder about the hands that picked the plant that was then placed into the basket before my eyes. The store tag on the basket had no mention of the maker, only a date (the 1800’s) and the price ($65) - there are so many unknowns. Seemingly, the only known fact is the placement of the basket within the antique shop.
Sweeten Creek Antiques, Asheville, NC. 2020
Mellanee Goodman
On my quest for knowledge of tobacco basketry from slavery in Western North Carolina, I searched through digital libraries of academic journals, essays and books, yet I have found no sources. At least not in the conventional sense of stumbling upon a document and thinking “Ah ha! Now the contextual craft based learning will begin.”
Perhaps, I am looking in the wrong place?
But why is finding a scholarly source so difficult?
Has no one considered this history?
In the peppering of scholarly sources that I did find, there was only mention of tobacco cultivation as enslaved labor, but not a single remark regarding tobacco basketry. My search has turned into an unceasing obsession. My brain and my emotions can not allow me to rest with the fact that absolutely nothing is written on this subject. I surmise that this absence within written history is due to the distorted stereotype that Western North Carolina is a region divested of African American history, and bereft of the horrors of slavery. One only needs to do a Wikipedia search of Appalachia and the invisibility of Blacks in Appalachia is overtly evident. This neglect further signifies the implications of systemic racism and initiatives to maintain the homogeneous image of the euro-centric mountaineer.
Sweeten Creek Antiques, Asheville, NC. 2020
Mellanee Goodman
With this in mind, I guess it should be no surprise that the history of tobacco basketry from slavery in Western North Carolina is not widely disseminated. There is much more that could and should be stated about why the presence of African Americans in Appalachia is not tacit knowledge, but I digress and provide this helpful note from Dr. William Turner:
“... people of African descent, who basically were moors, came into the Pee Dee River valley of North Carolina, came into the region of Western North Carolina in what is now called Bryson City. They came there with the Spanish Conquistadors in 1526... Almost 100 years before they came to Port O’Connor Virginia in 1619. The first Black footprints in the Americas, that we know of today, were in Southern Appalachia - the Smoky Mountains. Not on some plantation in South Carolina or Mississippi. They were in the mountain south” (1).
Dr. Turner's statement (fact) has also been substantiated within the work of other scholars and historians such as John C. Inscoe, Theda Perdue, Wilma Dunaway, and Darin J. Waters, to name a few.
The tobacco basket: Characteristics reminiscent of a weaving. A gridded pattern. The color? A variation of brown, light brown. Material? A type of wood. When found within an antique shop, it hangs from a nail on a wall or maybe it's situated on the floor or on top of an old dresser. Perhaps it is placed among other baskets or agricultural wear like a hoe or a plough. The object has transformed. In some instances it has taken on a new life as a component of home decor - hung above a couch. A far contrast from its original use.
Lexington Park Antiques, Asheville, NC. 2020
Mellanee Goodman
Can this object feel?
Can looking at this object convey emotional trauma, emotional trauma of slavery?
Who is the crafts person behind the object?
Until further notice, I am left to my own tools and devices to theorize about tobacco basketry from slavery in Southern Appalachia. I am only at the beginning of understanding the object and what it delineates about history and ethnography.
More to come.
Mellanee Goodman resides in Asheville, North Carolina. Mellanee earned her Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Arts Administration and Nonprofit Management from Appalachian State University. She is a Master of Arts in Critical Craft Studies candidate at Warren Wilson College. Mellanee’s main research focus is African-American craft history and material culture. She considers her research a form of resistance to racial inequality and a celebration of African-American culture. Mellanee is energized by the work of her nana, who was once a Black Panther and earned her PhD in history with a research focus in the Paleolithic movements of the African Khoisan people to Asia and America. Mellanee has a deep devotion for all things vintage. In her leisure she enjoys scouting and all vintage wares.
Marcus Harvey and Darin J. Waters, host, “Civil Rights Roots” The Waters and Harvey Show (podcast), July 24, 2020, https://www.npr.org/podcasts/536424816/the-waters-and-harvey-show.