Greetings family and friends! Today's rambling is a brief backstory about Yosemite icon and memorable charactor Julia Parker.....If you have been to Yosemite you may have crossed paths with her as well. Bill
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Memorable Character
JULIA PARKER - Master Basket Weaver, Teacher, Storyteller
Native Americans have shared their skills and stories with park visitors since the establishment of the Yosemite Museum in 1926 by the National Park Service. Mono Lake Paiute Maggie “Tabuce” Howard was one of the first as were Southern Miwoks Lucy Telles and Alice Wilson. Chris “Chief Lemee” Brown demonstrated Native American dances wearing authentic attire into the 1950’s. The first person that I can recall demonstrating acorn processing and basketry skills in the Indian Village behind the Yosemite Museum was Julia Parker.
The village of Ahwahnee, reconstructed by descendants of Yosemite’s native people, is located on the former site of the largest Native American Village in Yosemite Valley and includes typical Miwok shelters, a Sweathouse and Ceremonial Roundhouse. During Summer months Yosemite National Park Cultural Specialist Julia Parker could be found in the village engaging with visitor’s while gathering and pounding black oak acorns in a bedrock mortar or using baskets that she weaved from natural locally harvested materials to sift and wash the oak flour.
Born in 1928, Kashia Pomo - Coast Miwok Julia Parker was orphaned at an early age and was raised in a Native American Boarding School. She married Ralph Parker, grandson of Lucy Telles, moved to Yosemite and under Telles guidance began her studies of basketry. She developed her skills through the years and has become one of the preeminent Native American basket makers in California. Julia Parker has taught and lectured at universities and cultural centers throughout the country and her work is in permanent collections at the Smithsonian, Yosemite Museum and in private collections. Recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and an Honorary Doctorate from California College of the Arts. Julia Parker is remembered sitting on a colorful woven blanket under the trees in the tranquil Ahwahnee Village telling stories, demonstrating her skills, and patiently answering questions from park visitors for nearly sixty summers.
-Bill 6/23
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