Cherokee Heritage Trails

Emma Taylor is one of the most accomplished Cherokee basketweavers in the traditions of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. She specializes in white oak basketry, but she also makes intricate rivercane baskets as well as baskets of honeysuckle. In past years, Emma Taylor has presented programs at schools and demonstrated at festivals throughout the region.

Born in 1920, Emma Taylor grew up on Coopers Creek in the Birdtown community of the Qualla Boundary. Her mother, Lydia Ann Squirrel, traded baskets for food at the first craft shop in Cherokee. By the age of seven, Emma Taylor had begun to imitate her mother's basketweaving techniques using discarded shavings from white oak baskets. She attended Birdtown Day School and Cherokee High School, where she learned to make rivercane baskets from master basketmaker Lottie Stamper. Eventually, she began producing her own sturdy baskets of white oak, honeysuckle, and rivercane. After her marriage, she sold her baskets to help support her family. "All along, I sold baskets for a bare living," she says. "I raised all my kids by making baskets. I have eight and they are all living today. So ever since, I have been making baskets."

To make her white oak baskets, Emma Taylor gathered and prepared all of the raw materials herself. Until a few years ago, she still located the trees, cut them down herself, split the logs into quarters, and prepared the splints for weaving. She also gathered bloodroot and walnut and prepared her own natural dyes.

Emma Taylor's baskets have won numerous awards, and her work has been internationally recognized. She was the only Native American invited to demonstrate basketry at the World Craft Council in Kyoto, Japan. She has often demonstrated basketry at local schools, at festivals, and at the Oconoluftee Indian Village. She received the 1989 North Carolina Folk Heritage Award for her outstanding artistry and her role in maintaining cultural traditions. She was also featured in the documentary film Cherokee Basketweavers produced by Qualla Arts and Crafts. She believes that "basketweaving should be carried on by the younger generations, as long as the world stands, because that's our trade."

Emma Taylor no longer travels for demonstrations but welcomes orders for baskets and continues to sell her work through Qualla Arts and Crafts. She is also willing to talk to interested people about her work if they are willing to make an appointment to visit her at her home.