Throughout Black American history, quilting has been an integral part of self-expression in the ongoing fight for freedom and equality. Over the years, Black quilters have sewn pieces of art that are practical yet revolutionary. Quilting became a tool for expressing Black emancipation and independence. It provided a means of recording history and eventually paving a path to a brighter future.
Quilting by Enslaved People
The earliest examples of Black American quilts come from the plantations that enslaved individuals inhabited following their abduction from Africa. On American plantations, the hand-sewn quilts provided vital sources of warmth in cabins that were often uninsulated and unheated. The quilts were sewn from fabric scraps—worn pieces of clothing, grain bags, whatever the makers could find. These quilts were made out of necessity, but their mere existence displayed a subtle form of dissent. By taking pride in their possessions and beautifying their spaces, enslaved people proved they were just as human as their captors. To contrast and reject the widespread claims of barbarism was a means of reclaiming some power when they had little.
Yet, the most famous examples probably come from the freedom quilts associated with the Underground Railroad: decorative works that, some writers and quilters believe, concealed clues to guide fleeing enslaved peoples to freedom in the North. From this moment onward, quilting became a form of resistance—a means of discreetly delivering valuable information to others on the road to freedom.
Civil Rights Era Quilts
Nearly a century later, the art of quilting remained alive and well within Black communities. It was still a means for Black Americans to create art that was also practical—a way to keep warm despite the coldness and cruelty of Jim Crow laws. During the Civil Rights Movement, quilting would also serve as a means of protest.
In the 1960s, quilter Jessie Bell Williams Telfair joined forces with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to create her famous freedom quilts. Freedom (1975) was inspired by the group’s slogan, “Freedom Now!” The phrase became representative of their efforts to pursue the right to vote for Black Americans. At this time, Black Americans were often punished if they registered to vote despite having the legal right to do so. Echoing this sentiment, the large work repeatedly proclaims “freedom, freedom, freedom” in tidy rows of red, white, and blue cotton.
Even when the messaging wasn’t as explicit, the art of quilting continued to be revolutionary. The Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective was established in the mid-1960s to support the creative, economic, and political goals of the women of Wilcox County, Alabama. Women from the towns of Gee’s Bend and nearby Rehoboth sent their quilts to auctions in cities around the nation, generating income for their families, all while quilting from their rural towns and homes. It was a way to gain financial compensation without disrupting their lives altogether.
Lucy Mingo’s Pieced Quilt (1979) is a prime example of the ways quilting aided in subtle forms of protest. Mingo grew up in Gee’s Bend, where she followed an ongoing family tradition of quilting. Her sewing eventually became a form of civic expression. Mingo was a dedicated member of the collective, but she also became an impassioned Civil Rights protester. Although her works did not directly call for social change, their existence was an act of rebellion. To craft such objects of joy in the face of great evil—to reclaim economic autonomy as a Black woman—was to reassert the notion that she, too, was a human being who deserved the same unalienable rights as anyone else.
The AIDS Memorial Quilt
Some 30 years later, quilting as a tool for change again entered the public consciousness with the creation of the AIDs quilt. As the deadly epidemic swept through the United States in the 1980s, countless citizens grappled with the sudden loss of their loved ones. The concept of the AIDs quilt emerged as a means of remembering those lost to the disease—and to comfort the living.
In 1991, dancer Missa Marmalstein created a panel (below, right) commemorating the loss of Alvin Ailey, the famous Black American choreographer who had long inspired her craft. “It’s important because he deserves to be remembered in all of the contexts, but also as somebody that didn’t get to keep telling the stories that he deserved to tell,” she told the Whitney Museum of American Art about the rationale behind the creation of his panel.
Alvin Ailey, who is mentioned in six panels, is just one of the countless Black lives lost to the AIDs crisis. Although the quilt is predominantly composed of panels honoring white men, recent initiatives such as the Call My Name panel-making program have been working to ensure the quilt includes Black and Latinx lives lost to AIDs.
Quilts by Contemporary Black American Artists
While the AIDs quilt was created to remember the past, Michael A. Cummings’ President Obama (c. 2010) was a means of reckoning with the complicated nature of our present and our future. An abstract depiction of the 44th president, the quilt commemorates the decades and centuries where the notion of a Black president was unthinkable. Composed in a diasporic style and surrounded by quotations from Black intellectuals, poets, and activists, Cummings pays homage to many who paved the way.
Today, a number of Black quilters keep the art alive. Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach quilts may be the most famous examples, but the vibrant history quilts of Bisa Butler and Dawn Williams Boyd also spring to mind. These two contemporary quilters weave together scenes of Black American history with needle and thread. The art form remains sacred to Black communities—its importance embedded in its historic significance and the bright future.
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Brilliant Little Patchwork Collection by Kaffe Fassett
Quilts on an English Farm by Kaffe Fassett
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