“The connection between Africa and Carolina through the people who grew rice in Africa … and knew how to make the basket, bringing it to this country and it becoming part of the economic engine that made the colony so successful — that’s kind of the back story of the Lowcountry basket,” said Dr. Dale Rosengarten, author of “Row Upon Row: Sea Grass Baskets of the South Carolina Lowcountry” and “Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art.” The curator of Special Collections at the College of Charleston library, Rosengarten has studied basket weaving for more than 25 years. She said the art form captures the `history of the African experience in America. It has been passed down from generation to generation and is still alive throughout the Lowcountry.

http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/09/03/1359584/weaving-lowcountry-history.html#ixzz0yTaa1Xx7