Christine Navarro Paul

Christine Navarro Paul (December 28, 1874 – 1946), a member of the Chitimacha Native American tribe of Louisiana, was a celebrated basket maker and teacher. Beginning in her twenties, she led the efforts of the Chitimacha women to create and sell beautiful woven baskets made from dyed wild river cane. Through this work they were able to support the tribe both financially and politically.  Christine Navarro Paul collaborated with several White women, who acted as intermediaries for the marketing and sale of the baskets. The friendships that she developed with these women helped her to gain additional support for the Chitimacha tribe. She and her husband, Benjamin Paul, Chief of the Chitimacha, took care of orphans and other children in need in their community.[1] Christine advocated for the establishment of a school within the community for Chitimacha children. In 1935, when the school was finally established, she became the lead teacher of basket weaving, which helped to ensure that the skills and artistry needed to continue to create Chitimacha baskets would not die out. Christine Navarro Paul died in 1946.[2]

Christine Navarro Paul
BornDecember 28, 1874
Charenton, Louisiana
Died1946 (aged 71–72)
OccupationChitimacha Basket Weaver
Spouse(s)Benjamin Paul
Parent(s)Joseph Auguste Navarro and Augustine Marguerite Pladner

Early life

Christine Navarro was born December 28, 1874 near Charenton, Louisiana. Her parents, Joseph Auguste Navarro and Augustine Marguerite Pladner, lived in the small communities of Chitimacha Native Americans located at Indian Bend on Bayou Teche.  Most practiced the Roman Catholic religion, with French as their primary language, similar to their Cajun neighbors. Chitimacha women learned to weave baskets from older women of the tribe, using wild river cane, to supplement their income. In addition they harvested food from gardens and gathered wild plants. Christine's mother died when she was seven years old and her father died when she was nine. She likely lived with her step-mother and was a student at the nearby Catholic school. There she would have learned English, a valuable skill which later enabled her to become the communication link with the White women she collaborated with to sell the Chitimacha baskets.[3]

Later life

Christine married Benjamin Paul, son of John Paul, chief of the Chitimacha. Like other men in the Chitimacha tribe, he would have done seasonal work on the sugarcane plantations, logged cypress trees, as well as hunted and fished for food. At his father’s death Benjamin Paul became the chief of the Chitimacha tribe.[4]  Christine and Benjamin did not have any children of their own, however they did care for orphans and other needy children in their community.[5] Sara McIlhenny, one of Christine’s collaborators wrote of her, “The needy, sick and orphans all turn for help to the Chief and his wife...”[6]  Christine continued in her role as communicator and mediator for the Chitimacha people throughout her life. Her husband said of her to the Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that it was his wife that “is the one doing the Indian’s business.”[7] Her skill in developing and maintaining alliances was very beneficial to the well-being of the Chitimacha people.

Basket weaving

Basket weaving was a tradition with many Native American tribes and the Chitimacha in particular were noted for their authentic and artistic baskets. The baskets, as cultural objects, also helped to establish the Chitimacha tribe as a unique Native American nation.[8]

Weaving the baskets

Christine likely learned her skill at weaving baskets from Miss Clara Darden, one of the older women in the tribe who was a skilled weaver.[9] The baskets were made by collecting wild river cane, (Arundinaria gigant), which had once been plentiful, but had become increasingly difficult to find. They cut the cane and then while it was still green split and peeled it into narrow splints to be dried and then dyed with natural dyes of yellow, black or red. It took weeks to prepare the splints before weaving could begin. The baskets were woven in one of sixteen or more different patterns, with basket shapes that included mats, trays, bowls, and boxes with lids.[10]  

The Chitimacha tribe had long advocated for their own school, rather than be forced to send their children away to schools. As part of the Indian New Deal during the Great Depression a school was finally established for Chitimacha children in 1935. The curriculum, in addition to traditional school subjects, included instruction in basket weaving, with Christine Paul as lead teacher.

Marketing the baskets

Mary McIlhenny Bradford, a member of the upper-class McIlhenny family on Avery Island, wrote to Chief John Paul in 1899 to ask about purchasing Indian baskets. Three months later Christine Paul, his daughter-in-law, wrote back letting her know that the basket was on its way.[11]  The basket Mary Bradford received was a double-woven, large, lidded basket. It had taken two women weeks to produce it. At that time in the United States there was an increasing demand for authentic, well-made Indian crafts. Gradually Mary and her older sister Sara McIlhenny developed an extensive network of upper-class White women to help market these baskets. Purchasers included those who wanted them for personal use and others who wanted to add them to Indian art collections or museums. The McIlhenny sisters saw their role as helping to preserve a nearly extinct craft while also supporting people in trouble. The income from the sales of the baskets would have been essential for the struggling Chitimacha community. Christine, as a member of the chief’s family and someone who could read and write English, became the liaison with the McIlhenny sisters and organized the fulfillment of the orders.[12] Christine helped to organize the revival of basketmaking by women in the Chitimacha tribe and Mary McIlhenny Bradford helped with marketing. For example she worked to get the baskets included in an exhibition in the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904.  During the 1920s and 30s the communication between Christine and the McIlhenny sisters gradually slowed down.  However, in the 1930s Christine, along with her sister-in-law Pauline Paul, developed a relationship with another White woman, Caroline Coroneos Dorman, a writer and teacher, who helped them to continue marketing their baskets. She also had an anthropological interest in the Chitimacha and other Native American tribes. Dorman wrote an article, “The Last of the Cane Basket Makers,” for Holland’s, The Magazine of the South in 1931. The article helped to renew interest in both the Chitimacha baskets and their Native American culture.[13]

The Chitimacha tribe had once lived on thousands of acres in what is now Louisiana but had gradually lost their lands to wars with the French and their population to diseases Europeans brought to North America.  The Chitimacha Tribe was recognized by the French, Spanish and United States governments, with some protection of their lands through the Indian Nonintercourse Acts in the late 18th, early 19th century.  Unlike other Native American Tribes in the South, they were not driven west for their land.  However, by 1903 they only owned 470 acres.[14] In 1898 the Chitimacha tribe had filed in federal court to reclaim possession of Chitimacha land that others in the parish had unlawfully purchased from tribe members. The Chitimacha argued that the land was owned by the tribe, and thus individual tribe members had no right to sell it.[15] By this time the baskets made by the Chitimacha women had become well known and admired, and baskets were given by the chief as gifts to people who were advocating for them, in part to call attention to their unique Indian culture. One ally was a reporter who wrote a story about the Chitimacha land claims for the New Orleans newspaper, the Daily Picayune.  He illustrated it with sketches of the Chief and several women of the tribe, including Christine, noting the beautiful traditional baskets that they made.[16]

Over the next few years the Chitimacha continued to struggle to hold onto their land, with little support from the federal government. However, the relationship that Christine Paul and the other women of the tribe had developed with the McIlhenny sisters enabled them to gain their support in advocating for the tribe land claims. They increased the production and sales of their prized baskets to take advantage of the interest in Native American crafts that had made them so popular with collectors.  Some of these baskets were sent to potential patrons and allies through the McIlhenny sisters, to help increase interest in the Chitimacha tribe as an Indian Nation worthy of protection.  In 1912 the Chitimacha tribe was still facing multiple legal issues, including not being recognized as an Indian Nation and debt that could lead to the foreclosure on their remaining land. Christine and other Chitimacha women organized letter writing campaigns with officials in Washington, D.C., while the McIlhenny sisters used their connections. When efforts to have the Indian Rights Association provide financial aid failed at the last minute, Sara McIlhenny wrote a personal check for $1,240 that stopped the foreclosure sale of their last 260 acres.[17]  Christine Paul was key to the protection of the Chitimacha land, through both her management of the basket weaving that helped to raise funds and increase the awareness of their unique culture, as well as writing letters to anyone who might be able to help. She continued to maintain relationships with those that appreciated the artistry and beauty of the Chitimacha baskets and were willing to support them.

Death

Christine Navarro Paul's husband, Chief Benjamin Paul died in 1934. She continued her work of supporting the tribe by weaving baskets and teaching younger generations to weave until her death in 1946.

Chitimacha tribe today

Today Christine Navarro Paul’s community, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, continue to live on part of their ancestral homeland, and have gradually purchased back more of their former lands.  The Chitimacha once controlled the lands throughout the Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana, the largest river swamp basin in the United States.[18] The Chitimacha tribe continue to produce beautiful baskets to sell and are trying to enlarge their collection of baskets made by earlier generations of Chitimacha women.[19]

Bibliography
  • "The Atchafalaya Basin." Atchafalaya National Heritage Area. https://www.atchafalaya.org/atchafalaya-basin.
  • Paul, Christine Navarro. Lidded Basket. 1900. Basket Weaving. US Department of the Interior Museum, Washington, DC. Accessed November 1, 2020. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/lidded-basket-christine-navarro-paul-1874-1946/PQFCpxeKJvVJ9A?hl=en.
  • Sovereign Nation of Chitimacha. Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana. Accessed November 3, 2020. http://www.chitimacha.gov/.
  • Usner, Daniel H. Weaving Alliances with Other Women: Chitimacha Indian Work in the New South. Athens, CA: University of Georgia Press, 2015.
  • Usner, Daniel H., Jr. "From Bayou Teche to Fifth Avenue: Crafting a New Market for Chitimacha Indian Baskets." The Journal of Southern History LXXIV, no. 2 (May 2013): 339-374.

References/Notes and references
  1. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. pp. 6–7.
  2. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. pp. x.
  3. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. p. 29.
  4. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. p. 14.
  5. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. p. 44.
  6. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. p. 47.
  7. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. p. 63.
  8. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. p. 7.
  9. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. p. 6.
  10. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. p. 7.
  11. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. p. 6.
  12. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. pp. 8–9.
  13. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. pp. 53–54.
  14. "Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana". December 15, 2020.
  15. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. pp. 31–32.
  16. Usner, Daniel (2015). Weaving Alliances with Other Women. The University of Georgia Press. p. 32.
  17. Usner, Daniel. ""From Bayou Teche to Fifth Avenue: Crafting a New Market for Chitimacha Indian Baskets."". The Journal of Southern History. LXXIV: 339–374.
  18. "The Atchafalaya Basin". Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  19. "Chitimacha Baskets". Retrieved December 15, 2020.
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