Julia F. Parker

Honorary Degrees
 
 

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California State University, Fresno​

Julia F. Parker is a renowned basket weaver who follows the traditional techniques of her ancestors. In 2007, she received the highest possible folklife recognition in the United States from the National Endowment for the Arts. Born in Kashaya Pomo territory, Ms. Parker spent most of her life in the Yosemite Park area. Her early teachers were elder Native traditionalists and basket weavers of the Sierra Miwok and Kucadikadi Paiute people. Orphaned at age five, she was placed in foster care, and later moved to the Stewart Indian school near Carson City, Nevada where she met her future husband who was from the Yosemite area. The couple moved to Yosemite Valley where she learned from her husband’s grandmother and other elders the traditional basket weaving of the Native Peoples of the Yosemite Park area. She continued to practice and preserve these traditions for many years at Yosemite National Park. Ms. Parker also revived the practice of making acorn meal mush, which according to tradition, requires a basket for the cooking process.

Ms. Parker’s work has been f​eatured at the National Museum of the American Indian, the Heard Museum and the National Museum of Natural History. In 1983, Queen Elizabeth II visited Yosemite and Ms. Parker gave her one of her baskets. Today it is in the Royal Collection in Windsor Castle. Ms. Parker has been a central figure in the organization and ongoing activities of the California Indian Basketweavers’ Association. Her contribution to the Yosemite area helps to preserve the heritage of the region, and as such, is in keeping with the values and mission of California State University, Fresno.

In recognition of her extraordinary achievements and cultural contributions, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and California State University, Fresno are proud to confer upon Julia F. Parker the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts.