Mary Lou Slaughter was born in 1938,
the great granddaughter of Chief
Sealth, the Native American chief
after whom the city of Seattle was
named. She is of the Duwamish people
who today have no land base and no
federal recognition.
Mary Lou grew up in Manette when it
wasn't popular to be of Indian
heritage. It wasn't until her son
became a woodcarver that she decided
to validate his heritage by
embracing her own. She took her
Great Grandmother's Indian name at a
Potlach in 1996.
In 1995 she took a basket weaving
class from Loa Ryan, who is of the
Tsimshisn tribe. Loa looked at her
basket, then told her she should
take basket weaving from someone in
her own tribe. That person turned
out to be Ed Carriere, who is
featured in one of our other
"profiles". She studied with Ed for
2 1/2 year and he declared her one
of his best students.
Mary Lou entered her first Native
American "Indian Art Nortwest" show
in Portland Oregon in 2000. She won
a first, second and third place.
Mary has been blessed with many
talents: knitting, sewing, stained
glass, oil painting, wood carving,
photography and writing poetry.
Her basket weaving has now taken
priority and she has started
teaching out of her home. Her work
can be purchased in the Seattle's
Burke Museum gift shop and directly
from her. She also has some weaving
in the Log House Museum in West
Seattle for the 150 year celebration
of the founding of Seattle. Her
people helped the Denny party
survive their first winter in Puget
Sound.
Mary Lou lives in Port Orchard,
Washington with her husband of 30
years. They have 5 children, 14
grandchildren and 3 great
grandchildren.
