The History of African American Story Quilts
Quilt making can be traced to medieval times. In Pakistan, they are called Ralli quilts and in India, Kantha quilts. Early quilts were made for practical reasons- keep families warm at night, to hang on walls to keep out cold drafts, or for decorative purposes.
Black Africans brought their traditional applique form of quilt making with them to the Americans during the Middle Passage. According to legend, a safe house along the Underground Railroad was often indicated by a quilt hanging from a clothesline or windowsill. These quilts had codes embedded in them so that by reading the shapes and motifs in the design, one using the Undergrand Railroad could know the area’s immediate dangers or safe places. Some examples of the code are:
Bow Tie = Dress in disguise to appear of a higher status
Bear Paw = Follow an animal trail through the mountains to find water and food
Log Cabin = Seek shelter now; it is safe to speak with the people here
The heritage of African applique quilt making can be traced to the influences of four civilizations of Central and West Africa: the Mande-speaking peoples (in Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and Burkino Faso); the Yoruba and Fon peoples (in the Republic of Benin and Nigeria); the Ejagham peoples (in Nigeria and Cameroon); and the Kongo peoples (in Zaire and Angola.
African American quilts were born by combining traditional African appliqué techniques with traditional European quilting styles. Black quilters turned the American patchwork quilt into an instrument of storytelling and historical documentation. Black quilters introduced bright colors not found in American settlers’ quilts. The enslaved used appliqué wall hangings, a centuries-old tradition, for recording the histories of their West African kings.
In West Africa, traditionally men made the native wall hangings, but in North America the art form has been dominated by women. In West Africa most textiles were made by men but, when slaves were brought to the United States, their work was divided according to Western patriarchal practices, and women took over the quilting. Enslaved women who could sew, spin yarn and thread, and weave cloth brought a much higher price on the auction block.
Story quilts include pictures, images, symbols, fabrics, and textures are used to tell a story of the family’s life and experiences. Black quilts tell stories, document family trees, maintain memories of the departed, and share faith in God.
Quilter Harriet Powers demonstrates the development of the African American Quilt. She was once a slave in rural Georgia, but her intricate quilts have made her a celebrated artist. Her story quilts depict biblical tales and local histories. Harriet Powers’ quilts are preserved and displayed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Folk-Art display.
The traditions of quilt-making have been passed on through generations. In Africa, the need to recognize people from far distances was crucial for warring tribes and traveling hunting parties. The tradition of using large shapes and bright colors was important to accomplish this recognition. However, African weavers were not regulated by the use of specific patterns. The quilter/weaver was free to change and alternate the pattern. The goal of the work was to create a large fabric of separate weaves sown together rather than one repeating pattern. Many African tribes would recreate or change old patterns. A break in a pattern symbolized a rebirth in the ancestral power of the weaver. Also, a break in a pattern was believed to help keep evil spirits away. Evil is believed to travel in straight lines, and a break in a pattern or line confuses the spirits. This tradition is very recognizable in how Black quilters have improvised on white American patterns.
Today, 21st century Black quilters have revived this centuries-old art form and continue to create works that tell stories, record history, and captivate the imagination. One of these Black Quilters is Joan M.E. Gaither.
Joan M. E. Gaither
Documentary Story Quilter
Joan Gaither’s quilts were on display at the May 1, 2024, Southern Maryland Equity in History Website Launch and Celebration at the Dodge Center, St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Joan M.E. Gaither is a native Baltimorean who was involved with helping to integrate local schools and businesses during the Civil Rights Movement. She received a B.S. degree from Morgan University and her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Joan feels that her strength is her ability to model and facilitate intergenerational participation in art education, public schools, and community arts partnerships. As an artist, she discovered that her voice is informed by an interest in mixed media, fibers, and photographic images that allow close scrutiny of surfaces and metaphors for personal meaning.
Joan believes, “quilts are more than decoration, beauty, comfort, and protection. By piecing meaningful fabric, traditional patterns, and collaged text & image to tell narrative personal stories, layers of meaning can emerge to document your life experiences, experiences of other people, places and events. In my mind, they tell the human story, make emotional connections to issues, tells the story that NEEDS to be TOLD, and keeps the connections to our heritage real, fresh, and very much alive.”
In 2000 she hand-stitched her first large narrative quilt, My Story: A Family Quilt. She explains that to make the quilt she “embellished, layered, and color-coded text and image statement of her culture, with brilliant Maryland State Flag colors, photo transfers of family members, threads of gold, and multiple levels of attachments that offer clues to the careers and identity of aging and young faces in such a way as to project power and seemed to come alive. “
That quilt became the catalyst for the more than ten quilts she hand-stitch during in 2003. As more quilts began to take shape, she states that” deeply buried memories became un-layered in fiber and mixed media to address issues of celebration, identity, protection, racism, and survival.”
As Joan continued to quilt, she found herself becoming a community artist and advocate for social justice issues. The journey started as she, a professional artist, worked with a museum and a local community partnering to tell the stories of individuals and their African American communities by collecting and interpreting oral histories, everyday objects, into story quilts. Her art documents the lives and contributions, of African Americans in the history and culture of Maryland in particular and in the greater American story in general.
As a fiber artist and documentary story quilter, her work centers on community collaborations and quilting workshops designed to encourage participants to research and celebrate their own personal histories and stories. As many as thirty-five quilters help construct one of her quilts. It is a community effort. She is attempting to capture the oral histories and memories from our aging storytellers and preserve them in quilts so they will live on.
Her My American Series Quilts 2014-2011, tell many stories and celebrates the contributions, lives, and legacies of African Americans. The series includes:
- Homage to Ed and Sylvia Brown – the story of local philanthropists Ed and Sylvia Brown
- Trails Tracks Tarmac – the story of her community’s evolution and connection to Anne Arundel County
- At Freedom’s Door – the story of slavery in Maryland)
- The Airport Quilt – the story of land ownership and work on the national airport property
- Journey to the White House – the life story of our 44th President
- The Black Watermen of the Chesapeake – the history of and the importance of th Black watermen of the Chesapeake
- The National Black Theatre Festival Quilt – is the seventh quilt in the evolving series.
Another well-known quilt by Dr. Gaither is the Sesquicentennial 1864 Slave Emancipation Quilt. With the passage of the 1864 state constitution, Maryland slaves were freed. To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of slavery in Maryland, Dr. Gaither worked with over 400 representatives from all 23 counties in Maryland to create a quilt documenting the 1864 event. The quilt is laid out like the Maryland State Flag. It tells the stories of African Americans in each county as told by the county’s residents.
Sources:
AAREG African American Registry, Black History and Quilting, a story 3/23/2024.
Black History and Quilting, a story – African American Registry (aaregistry.org)
Joan M.E. Gaither, Documentary Story Quilter. Joan M.E. Gaither, Documentary Story Quilter (joangaither.net)
