Tradition keeps our history and stories alive. But what happens if these traditions don’t get passed onto the next generation? Mary Black created baskets with new techniques, allowing these stories to survive. 

Mary Black (maiden name Holiday) was born around 1934 to Navajo parents. Black was the oldest of six and was expected to care for her younger siblings and the household. Black never had the chance to attend school and, at the age of eleven, learned how to weave rugs and baskets. Not only did she master the techniques of gathering, cutting, dyeing, and weaving, but she also learned about the significance and history associated with basket weaving. 

In the 1950s, Black met and married Jessie Black, eventually having 11 children. Black passed her skills to their children and several of them have since become accomplished basket makers. After four decades of marriage, Jessie Black passed away in 1994.

Black played a major role in the revival of basket weaving. In the 1960s, fewer Navajos weaved baskets. Many Navajo women switched from basket weaving to rug weaving as for the higher income. Not only did Black keep the tradition of basket weaving alive, but she also experimented with different designs and techniques. However, when developing new techniques, Black received criticism from others in the community who said they felt uncomfortable with her use of religious images in her designs, soon accepting her new designs and acknowledging the decorative nature. Historically, baskets were ceremonial and representative of cultural identity, artistic expression, along with the continuation of ancient techniques. Many Native Americans didn’t write down aspects of their culture, instead passing traditions down through stories or by creating baskets and rugs. 

In 1993, Black received the Utah Governor’s Award for the Arts, and two years later she was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Black was the first artist from Utah to receive this award, as well as the first Navajo artist to do so. In 2013, several baskets created by the Black family were featured in a Smithsonian exhibit, “Weaving a Revolution: A Celebration of Contemporary Navajo baskets,” one of the first major museum exhibits focused on Navajo basket weaving. 

Though Black passed away on December 13, 2022, her legacy continues to live on, as inspiration for not only her own children but many Navajo artists around the country.