NATCHITOCHES – Clifton Choctaw cultural authority Becky Thomas-Meziere was named a Louisiana Tradition Bearer by the Louisiana Folklife Commission and honored at a ceremony this past weekend at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum. Serving as a Folklife Ambassador for the Louisiana Folklife Commission, Dr. Shane Rasmussen, professor of English and director of the Louisiana Folklife Center, spoke with Thomas-Meziere about her lifetime of experience studying and preserving Louisiana’s traditional folklife.
Thomas-Meziere is a traditional pine needle basket maker of Choctaw descent currently living in Natchitoches Parish. She is an enrolled member of the Clifton Choctaw Tribe with family ties to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. As a young child Thomas-Meziere’s mother handed down the traditional Native American methods and techniques of gathering long leaf pine needles from the local forest, how to use raw material to make baskets, and the art of weaving. A renowned master basket weaver with over 30 years of experience, Thomas-Meziere has received numerous awards, the most recent being The Diverse Heritage Award from The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation. Her baskets are in private and public collections throughout the world including The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. She has demonstrated her traditional art form of pine needle basket making in multiple juried art shows and festivals such as The New Orleans JazzFest Native American Village and the annual Tunica Biloxi Tribe Intertribal Basketry Summit. In July 2026, she was inducted into the Louisiana Folklife Center’s Hall of Master Folk Artists at the Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival. She is currently active in promoting awareness of traditional pine needle basket making and the importance of passing down this rare art form to younger generations.
The ceremony and discussion were part of a series of events throughout the state for Folklife Month in Louisiana. Thomas-Meziere was honored with a certificate from Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser, officially recognizing her as a Louisiana Tradition Bearer. The event was sponsored by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum, the Louisiana Folklife Center, the Louisiana Folklore Society and the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism. Funding was also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, in collaboration with the Louisiana Folklife Commission.