Ep. 22 Hailing Frequencies Open & the Washoe Weaver

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This episode Megan and Milena cover Washoe Native American weaver Louisa Keyser & African American physician, engineer, and oh, only the first black woman in SPACE, Dr. Mae Jemison

Louisa Keyser

For those of us in the USA, with it being November we have a time honored tradition to look forward to this month – let’s be honest, it’s not Thanksgiving, it’s Black Friday – we’re greedy capitalistic bastards.
            But, with our tradition of Thanksgiving and the very questionable portrayal of Native Americans in the story, I thought now would be a great time to look into some Native American artists – so today we’re covering one of America’s most well known basket weavers, Washoe Indian Dabuda, also known as Louisa Keyser, also known as Dat So La Lee.
This episode we go into how this woman got so many names, what it takes to hand weave a basket and the financial implications of native tribes succumbing to the colonization of white settlers – you know, keeping it light for the holiday!

Selected Work
A typical ‘degikup’ basket form that Louisa became best known for
A collection of Louisa’s baskets, all made of locally sourced material
Top view emphasizing the untraditional openings of her baskets
Abe Cohn pictured with two of Louisa’s baskets while at the 1919 St. Louis Arts and Craft Expo
Louisa with two of her works

Mentioned this episode:

  • Washoe Indian Tribe – Tribe located around Lake Tahoe that Louisa was born into, who underwent significant changes with the introduction of white settlers in the mid 1800’s
  • Indian Removal Act – Signed into law in 1830 by president Andrew Jackson, which resulted in the Trail of Tears
  • Abe and Amy Cohn – Carson City business owners who represented and profited from Louisa’s weaving, creating a persona for her in the process
  • Arts and Crafts Movement – Late 1800’s movement that was in backlash to the indutrial movement, emphasizing hand made objetcs
  • Primitivism – Western fascination in ‘discovering’ non-white art found in Africa, the Pacific and among native people

Dr. Mae Jemison

Unlike Milena who has no intention of setting a gravity-free foot in space, Mae Jemison was more than ready by the time she became the first black woman in space. As if being a NASA astronaut wasn’t impressive enough, Mae is also an engineer, physician, educator and complete badass. Today we cover how Mae came to be so awesome and the work she continues today.

As always, music by EeL