Cuesta Benberry - The Anyone Can Fly Foundation, Inc.

the time I think when … because Quilters Newsletter was the only quilt magazine for agood while, and then others began to be published, like “Ladies Circle Patchwork Quilts,”but Quilters Newsletter kind of established itself as the premiere quilt publication. So itwas from there that people began to notice my writings.And not long after that I had started an intense project of researching African-Americanquilts and that came about at the time of the Bicentennial.FAITH: That’s 1976.CUESTA: Right. Because there was a great deal of emphasis then on learning aboutones ethnic heritage. And I believed … I more than believed – I knew that black peoplehad made quilts. My grandma made them, although she treated them like blankets, andthen all of my in-laws… I knew. But as one searched the literature of that time, thequilt literature, there was scarcely a mention of black quilters.FAITH: And you knew for sure because you had researched it.CUESTA: Right. Then I began to go on the lecture circuit because people were reallyinterested.FAITH: This was 1970s?CUESTA: Well, a little later. It was about 1980.FAITH: So 1980 was really a pivotal time, wasn’t it?CUESTA: Right.FAITH: That’s when I made my first quilt. 1980.Figure 1: Echoes of Harlem 1980. © Faith Ringgold. Acrylic on canvas,dyed, painted and pieced fabric. 96 x 84 inches. Collection of PhilipMorris Companies, Inc. http://www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/d33.htmCUESTA: Yeah. Right. I remember because I got that. The Artist and the Quilt.[Editor’s note: The Artist & the Quilt, 1983. edited by Charlotte Robinson. New York:Alfred A. Knopf]FAITH: That’s right. The Artist and the Quilt.CUESTA: But you were famous before that.FAITH: Well the point is that quilts really did it for me because it was a way that I couldcontinue to paint without having these big, huge, heavy, massive pictures to carryaround. I mean it would have slowed me down a lot if I had not discovered that I couldpaint on these quilts. It was perfect. But I had no idea that it was going to be importantpage 3

to anybody but me, nor that I was operating in an important time, like the 1980s. Soyou were really in a serious … ‘Cause the 60s had passed and the quilters had goneunnoticed.CUESTA: Yes.FAITH: By both the African-American art scholars and the white ones, too. So there youwere. Into the 1980s and still sitting by the door waiting to find out what’s going tohappen.CUESTA: Right. Right. But then I was still working in 1980 but I would schedule maybeweekends or summer trips. It was surprising how people were so interested in African-American quilts. It was not … Most of the calls and invitations I received were fromwhite quilt dealers and from white institutions and museums and places like that. Theywere very, very interested.About this same time Maude Wahlman’s quilt, a little bit before that she had been astudent at Yale and she was one of the few students in the Black Studies Program. Ilearned about her work through a Yale alumni magazine and then followed it up withsome people that I knew and I got information.In the late 70s they had a big African-American crafts program in Memphis. She wasthere. So was Gladys-Marie Frye. That was when I learned that most of the research onAfrican-American quilts was coming from the academic community. None of the peoplethat I knew, who were basically quilt people, had any program about, or research effortabout African-American quilts. But then I met Roland Freeman , Gladys-Marie Frye,John Michael Blatch, and Maude. And they were the ones who were doing research onAfrican-American quilts.FAITH: How were they being received?CUESTA: Fine. Because New York is the media capital of the world. And because oftheir credentials and who they were. Then her first show was 10 Afro-American Quiltershttp://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~wahlman/quilters.html and they were from Mississippi. Thequilts were. But I followed right along there and then at some later time other morequilt-oriented people, but not black, who weren’t scholars, like Maude and John MichaelBlatch who teaches at George Washington University….They were all scholars. But then,more quilt-oriented people like Roberta Harten who was a teacher and Eli Leon who wasa dealer, and others began. And so then that whole area of African-American quiltsbecame a hot topic.FAITH: And what year was this?CUESTA: Well it was about ‘82/’83.FAITH: The ‘80s is just it.page 4

CUESTA: Yeah. Right. That was when it was. Pam McMorris who did one of the firstbroadcasts on television, a quilt series came to St. Louis to interview me. She was fromBowling Green U in Ohio. She didn’t know Maude because she came from the quilt side.But I told her about Maude and I told her about Gladys-Marie and so she did go andinterview them. It has just grown. The interest in African-American quilts and quilthistory has expanded beyond belief.FAITH: So you’re pleased?CUESTA: Yeah. I really am. What is so exciting now is young African-Americans, likeKyra Hicks and Carolyn Mazloomi. They add substance to the research. And they are sothorough. And they know all the modern techniques. All the new technology. Kyra wasthe marketing person at Hallmark. When she moved to Washington, DC she worked forthe Washington Post in that Department, the Internet, or whatever. I was born toosoon. And then 9/11 came and they cut back at the Washington Post. Kyra was one ofthe last ones hired and so she lost that. But she’s a marketing person. She graduatedfrom the London School of Economics. She knows it. She is now working in themarketing department of the Marriott Hotel. A job’s not hard for her to find in her field.But I’m just so happy that these younger people and the older ones have to…FAITH: This is just such a powerful field it’s got to attract powerful people.Figure 2: Ode to Harriet Powers 1995. © Peggie L. Hartwell. Handappliquéd and machine quilted cotton. Collection of Carolyn Mazloomi.http://www.antiquesandthearts.com/a2000.asp?a=GalleryHopping01-09-2001-14-23-45CUESTA: Wonderful. And I’m just happy about that. And they are so smart, they reallyare.FAITH: What can you say about the various quilting medium? Needlework, patchwork,appliqué, painted cloth, etc. and this burr technique, etc.? What can you say aboutthese things to explain why and how African-American quilters have used these materialsin the making of their quilts?CUESTA: I think what really needs to be established is that they did. That they did useall of these various techniques that you just mentioned. All of these kinds of needleworkthat are not usually assigned to them.FAITH: I had heard that African-American quilt makers make large stitches.Figure 3: Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt, 1930 – 1970. By HattieWilliams Jones and Mary Allen Smith Williams. Polyester, knit, cotton,pieced. 93 x 72 1/4 inches. Purchase. Collection of the Old StateHouse Museum.page 5

http://www.oldstatehouse.com/piece%2Dof%2Dmy%2Dsoul/quilting%2Dfamilies/default.asp?fn=The+Allen+Sisters+%26+Descendants&fid=1&id=14&qid=4&qn=Hattie+Williams+JonesCUESTA: Yeah. Well. Sometimes they do. I think that that should be noted. The onlything is when they transfer that and say that all African-American quilters make largestitches. But then, you can understand why they would make large stitches. Becausethe purpose for which those quilts were made. Those quilts were not made to bebeautiful wall hangings. They were utilitarian and they needed to be made in a hurry.I interviewed a woman right here in St. Louis, she’s since passed, and she made theGrandmother’s flower garden quilt. And that’s that hexagon. And she’s from Mississippi,but her hexagons were big. And most times when you see those quilts Grandmother’sflower gardens are small hexagons. And I asked her, Malverna Richardson, used to liveright out here in Beverly Hills and I used to love to go to her house and interview her.(This is an aside, because she made the best cobbler.) She was such a wonderfulwoman. I loved to go to her house and see her quilts and talk to her. And I asked herabout those hexagons because her hexagons were that big, and most of them are small.She said, “I ain’t no fool. I used to make those little bitty hexagons. But now I makethem big so I can get through and that’s the way it is.”And she was a quilt maker. Oh she made some lovely quilts. I used to love to go to herhouse.FAITH: So you’ve established that African-American quilt makers made quilts in all thedifferent techniques.CUESTA: Yes, yes.FAITH: Some showed technical proficiency better than others, but they embracedeverything that they came about.Figure 4: Butterfly Quilt, ca. 1930. By Authorine Wilson Anderson.Cotton, appliquéd. Collection of Old State House Museum 96.01.7.http://www.oldstatehouse.com/piece-of-my-soul/quiltingfamilies/default.asp?fn=Frances+Smith+Wilson+%26+Descendants&fid=2&id=24&qid=6&qn=Authorine+Wilson+AndersonCUESTA: I think so.FAITH: And for another reason, that’s also true is because they worked during slavery.If they were going to make quilts they were going to have to please the quilt master’shousehold – whatever they wanted. Now for their own quilts, they could make those theway they wanted to. But they had to know these other ways. And I think maybe youcould tell us about this. What were the dominant styles during slavery that they used tomake quilts for the master’s house?page 6

CUESTA: Well, that too is a problematic subject. About the master. Because in manyinstances it was not the master’s choice, or the mistress’ choice. These black quilters,in many instances, are needle workers. You can find those bills, advertising bills, and itmight say, offer a slave for sale and mention the fact that she was an excellent needleworker.Figure 5: The Liberty Quilt, ca. 1870. By Elizabeth Hobbs Keckleyformer slave. Silk, pieced, appliquéd, embroidered. 85 1/2 x 85 1/2inches. Collection of the Kent State University Museum.http://www.centerforthequilt.org/treasures/cb/gallery1.php?directory=photos&currentPic=15;http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?pbd=kentuckytest-a0a2n5-aElizabeth Keckley, who eventually came right here to St. Louis, came from out East, Ithink Virginia, made her whole family -- made their living (because they fell on hardtimes) with sewing. She came right here to St. Louis and built up a clientele and shekept 17 people in food. Her slave owners and their family and the other slaves attachedto this house. And she learned to sew from her mother. Her mother was a seamstress.She wasn’t governed by her master, or her mistress, because she says that her mistresscouldn’t sew. And so the idea that they kind of gave guidance to the slave, that’s truein some instances and in others it’s not. And it deals with the particular family. Later onshe got her freedom and went to Washington, DC where she became the leadingdressmaker in the city. And when the Lincoln’s came to Washington, DC she becameMary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker. And more than that, her confidante and friend. Butshe wrote in her book, she never saw Mrs. Lincoln with a needle in her hand. [Editor’sNote: cf. Keckley, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes, Formerly a Slave, but more RecentlyModiste, and a Friend to Mrs. Lincoln, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in theWhite House. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 2001. (Originally published: New York :G.W. Carleton, 1868. This edition originally published: Chicago : R.R. Donnelly, 1998.)]http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/keck-eli.htmSo even before and after slavery, it was dependent on her. And you can find manyothers who were brought into these households. I went to the Valentine Museum therein Richmond, Virginia and it was just unbelievable. They pulled out, they have the quiltsin the drawers lying flat. They pulled them out. And many of them were slave made.And also, they have slave garments, slave made garments, the most exquisite lace…Nowin some instances, did the white mistress…?We all go over the same items because the history is there so later on … read in herbook on slave quilts. But this woman was brought from the Caribbean area as a slave.They even mentioned in the history how she was treated differently. She had her owncabin. And she did all this exquisite needlework. But she came with that knowledge.And I guess her mistress…FAITH: She was given the time to do this elaborate needlework.page 7

CUESTA: Right. Right. Because that was a feather in their cap. Those pieces are justwonderful. So I’m not saying that in some instances the mistress may have taught theslave needle worker how to make various quilts, but in other instances not.You know, another thing I found when I went to Baltimore I found that in the census…this is during slavery time, that in the Baltimore census, as they listed the residents inthe back of the census they listed the free blacks in Baltimore. And so that was really agreat information, because those free blacks … There were schools that they attended.You had to pay. So that meant that those free blacks who sent their children to theseschools, and they were not public schools, they were private schools, but they werethere. And one of the things they taught, … and the Headmaster was usually a man…and all of this can be documented and confirmed, because the records are not only therein Baltimore they’re in the Smithsonian, and I was just so elated when I found this out.Quilt making. Quilt making was a part of the curriculum.So those girls, and they came from all over. They didn’t just come from Baltimore to goto those… They called them Academies, Some from even here. Free Blacks. I got thelist of student for a year and it told where they lived originally and they’d been sent tolive. And they had more than one. It just grows. There’s so much to this. In Baltimore,there was a nunnery of black nuns. I met one of the nuns here in St. Louis and had asmall display of quilts and she was telling me about in 1820 in Baltimore they madequilts. In almost all nunneries they’d teach fine needlework, at least they did back then.Here’s another young woman. Up in New York. She just got her Doctorate. Myra BrownGreen. She was so fascinated with that when I told her. She’s following it up. And she’salready made visits to the mother house there in Baltimore. It’s much reduced, but it’sstill in existence. And they have the records. All of these venues where African-Americans, even as far back as slavery, had access, in various ways to learn to makequilts. It’s so marvelous. I’m so happy that these younger people. Younger scholars aretaking it and go. It’s wonderful.Section II – African American QuiltsFAITH: Can we determine by focusing on the many quilting techniques - traditional,crazy quilt, strip quilt, so-called improvisational and art quilt – what has been our [theAfrican American's] dynamic contribution, our inspired innovation to the history anddevelopment of quilt making?CUESTA: I think the contribution has been so varied because, like you brought thistoday, this is something. And this can be developed.FAITH: That’s why it was important that you opened the door for this history. Becauseyou can’t know until you get the history.CUESTA: Right. Right. And until you can realize the scope of the history. And howmany areas are affected. I think that those improvisational, utilitarian quilts…page 8

FAITH: Is that the same thing? Improvisational and Utilitarian?CUESTA: Utilitarian is made for the bed. They weren’t trying to do fancy work.Improvisational, they put the pieces where they fit. If it didn’t fit, they’d make it fit.They were made in a very casual way, but the image that resulted was very striking.Figure 6: Log Cabin Quilt, ca. 1890. By Hattie Collins, a former slave.Cotton, pieced. 74 x 63 1/2 inches. Purchase. Collection of Old StateHouse Museum 88.17.3.http://www.oldstatehouse.com/piece-of-my-soul/quiltingfamilies/default.asp?fn=Hattie+Collins+%26+Her+Granddaughters&fid=3&id=28&qid=12&qn=Hattie+CollinsFAITH: But they weren’t trying to be striking.CUESTA: No they weren’t trying to.FAITH: Actually, were they trying to be plain?CUESTA: I don’t know. I talked to ____ and she made britches quilts in animprovisational way. She cut up jeans, she cut up pants. All they were trying to do wasto make this thing that was useful but somehow the results were so striking. Sowonderful. And I think that is what has captured people’s attention.Other quilts that African-Americans make are no different from mainstream quilts. Theyhave that look. I think it’s important that you recognize all of them. For instance, theyounger people of today when utilitarian quilts are really not needed in their particularhouseholds, are making quilts that are artistic expressions of themselves. It’s different.All of these various kinds of quilts I think should receive recognition as African-Americanquilt works because if you don’t then you really aren’t telling the truth.FAITH: You’re losing a lot. You’re judging. And by so doing that you’re losing.CUESTA: You’re putting your own definition on what is a people’s work when that isn’treally so.FAITH: Well, you know, that’s good. I like hearing that because that is a problem in theart world. That other people want to decide who and what is going on. When in realityit is the artist who has to make the decision. Because without them making the decisionthere is no work. So the work has to first be produced. And then after it’s produced,then these other people can come along and say, this, this, this, and that. But the firstdecision is that the artist makes the work. And in order for them to make the work,they have to decide what that work is going to look like. So they’re in the power seat allthe way. And if they never decide. Then there’s no work, then there’s nothing for theseother people to come along and talk about.page 9

CUESTA: That’s true. That’s why I think that it’s really important, not just for African-Americans, but for quilters in general, to keep making quilts. Because, like you say, ifthey stop making them then what have you got to write about? Nothing.Figure 7: Log Cabin Quilt, Medallion Variation (also called Pig Pen), ca.1955. By Mary Allen Smith Williams. Wool flannel, cotton, pieced. 82 x73 inches. Purchase. Collection of Old State House Museum 95.01.7.http://www.oldstatehouse.com/piece%2Dof%2Dmy%2Dsoul/quilting%2Dfamilies/default.asp?fn=The+Allen+Sisters+%26+Descendants&fid=1&id=9&qid=2&qn=Mary+Allen+Smith+WilliamsFAITH: And make them in the freest possible way. Do it their way. Because withoutthat there’s nothing to qualify which way is the best way. If they haven’t actually doneit.Now, can we define, how and when African-American quilters have inspired the modernart movement in America? There’s that question. It’s a hot ticket. Because, I don’tthink it’s ever been discussed. It hasn’t been discussed because history is powerful.And as we found out in the 60s, to keep a person’s history covered is to cover up theirdream. And this is America where we value freedom. And we’re constantly strugglingto make sure that we have it.And here we find that here we have generations of women, it’s mostly women, who havecreated a two-dimensional art history that I thought we didn’t have. I would have said,when I was a college student, I want to be a painter. I went to college to be a painter.But I had no history as a painter. If I had wanted to be a sculptor, no problem. Everyoneknows that African sculpture unfolded the Modern Art Movement. In the work ofPicasso, they created cubism by looking at these curious sculptures, African sculpture.So, everywhere in the world people know about African sculpture. It is widely collectedand acclaimed as a beacon of light in the history of sculpture of the world. O.K.? Ittakes its place.But I would have said, as far as easel painting is concerned, which is what I want to do,we have no tradition in that. I would have said that. And I’m sure that most paintingstudents today would say it, too. The easel painting that we use as a classic form isEuropean derived, invented by Europeans. We are coming into that now. We do nothave typically a two-dimensional free form of painting as our history. I knew aboutquilts. Yes. But I didn’t think of them in the way that I’m thinking of them now.Because now I would say, quilt making is our two-dimensional form. It’s two-dimensionaland it’s also three-dimensional. But it’s basically two-dimensional. But it is. It is theclassic form of African-American two-dimensional art and it was begun by women.Figure 8: Jesus Bearing the Cross 2003. © Michael A. Cumming. 84 x84 inches. Collection of the Artist.http://www.michaelcummings.com/other.htmlCUESTA: Right. Right.page 10

FAITH: And I’m sure a whole lot of people still don’t know this. And maybe a whole lotof people might argue about this. What do you think about that?CUESTA: It’s an eye-opener to me. It just brings another dimension to the overall topic.I personally had never …FAITH: But Cuesta, can’t you imagine? Quilts are made by women all over the world.What makes them all want to do this? It’s got to be something extremely powerful. Itsatisfies. It really satisfies.CUESTA: They can trace quilting back, in Italy, and Sicily to 8 th or 9 th Century. And theyhave found remnants in the Far East, like in China, that even go back farther. In Africaquilting was mainly used as armor.FAITH: Egypt has a very ancient quilting tradition. They call it applique. They used it todecorate coverings for the camels and things like that.If one were to define the compositional criteria of the Minimalist Movement in Americanart from 1959 to the late 1960s one could use the same 7 traits that were used bypresent-day quilt scholars to define quilts of so-called authentic African-American origin.In their “innocent arrogance” (your words), these scholars used these 7 traits to definea group of improvisational African-American quilters whose work was, in fact, inspired bythe slave quilts of over 200 years ago. And I set it in 200 years because that’s a prettyliberal kind of year to pick, 200.Those 7 traits are: (1) emphasis on vertical strips, (2) bright colors, (3) large designs,(4) asymmetry, (5) improvisation, (6) multiple patterning, (7) symbolic forms. Did theimprovisational quilt makers, whose traits of quilt design date back to over 200 yearsago see the Minimalist Art of the 1960s, or was it the other way around? Why have arthistorians and scholars not talked about this, especially since a show of these veryquilts, Gee’s Bend, is traveling the country’s major museums as we speak? Doesn’t itseem interesting? http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/m/minimalism.html ;http://www.high.org/experience/exhibitions/exhibitions.aspx?id1=186CUESTA: Right. So many of those characteristics are quite evident. We talked aboutwhat large pieces and the quilter’s reason for doing it and using it. So it might notcoincide with what the artist thinks of it. It gives the same effect when it’s done. As Ilook at these pictures that you brought. It’s just so apparent.FAITH: It’s dynamic. It’s just absolutely dynamic. You see, during that time, in the1960s there was this thing. We had done all the fancy work. All of these differenttechniques had been used in art that were very busy, very exciting, very decorative, allof that. Now we want to get rid of all of that. And it was said, Less is more. Nopolitical art. No art with messages. No art with designs. No art with decorations. Noart with people. No people. Get away from the people. Non-objective art aboutnothing. Just nothing at all. Not even the paint. No textural effects. Now the Gee’spage 11

Bend, just to use them as an example, they were saying the same thing but becausethey couldn’t afford anything else. So, one group is saying we have all of these thingsbut we don’t want to use them any more because now we’re just deciding that less ismore and what you see is what you see and nothing more. So it’s the same thing butfor different reasons.CUESTA: But then, the images that result are so similar. It’s just fascinating to me. It’sreally wonderful. http://planetpatchwork.com/Gees%20Bend%202/FAITH: What do you have in mind for the future history of quilt makers and quilt makingin America? What is left to be done? What is most urgent for our plans for the future?CUESTA: I believe that a more extensive investigation of African-American quilt historywill be conducted. These younger people are going to go into areas that never occurred.It’s going to expand. Keep growing and what will result will be, maybe for the first time,especially as quilts concern women, a very well developed history of African-Americanquilts. It’s coming. And these young people are going to do it.FAITH: That’s my next question. What do you imagine will be our leadership in the quiltworld of the future? Do you have a message for them?CUESTA: Well. I have a message that I admire what they’re doing. How far I knowthey’re going to take this. And the seriousness with which they approach this subject.They’re not playing. They are very serious about their investigations and it’s going tobring respect and recognition to the topic. The scholars themselves will reap some ofthe benefits. But the subject itself, I can just see it expanding and – Because theseyoung people are not only very competent in the new technologies, they haveimaginations.FAITH: Can you name us some names?Figure 9: The Family Quilt from Solid as a Rock Series 1989. By CarolynMazloomi. Cotton, fabric paint, pieced. 49 x 39 inches. Collection ofthe Museum of Arts and Design, New York City.http://www.centerforthequilt.org/treasures/cb/gallery1.php?directory=photos&currentPic=18CUESTA: I’ve mentioned Kyra Hicks, Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, Dr. Myrah Brown Green.Gwendolyn McGee in Jackson, Mississippi. Dr. Marlene Seabrook in Charleston, SouthCarolina. These are serious scholars. They don’t see any barriers to their investigations.They don’t recognize it. Whatever it takes, they’ll do. They’re wonderful. And some ofthe older ones, the predecessors of these younger people, have made contributions thatdeserve some recognition that I don’t think they always have received. For instance,Roland Freeman collected those quilts from Mississippi.FAITH: Were they slave quilts?page 12

CUESTA: No. They were pretty old. Most of those quilts served as objects for that firstgroup of scholars. They used Roland’s quilt collection. Now Roland himself is, I think,he’s a photojournalist. That’s his work. And he collected these quilts just because heliked them. I think he was on a folk writing assignment for the Smithsonian. And thefolklorist was Worth Long, they went together. He collected those quilts when it wasn’tbeing done. So therefore I think that, although he does not enter the scholarly debateabout quilts. I think that he had that idea to collect these quilts just because of theirappeal to him. That earns him a place.GRACE: How can we see those quilts? How can we see his collection?Figure 10: Jewel Fire 1996. © Gwendolyn Magee. Collection of theartist. 108 1/2 x 88 inches. Photo by Roland Freeman.http://www.quiltethnic.com/mission.htmlCUESTA: It’s still privately held. But he usually has part of it traveling around in variousexhibitions. I notice some of his quilts that he got in Mississippi, very close copies, andthese are individual quilts, so if anybody copies it, it’s obviously a copy because thequilts are so unique that almost nobody else would have that same idea.http://www.tgcd.org/tgcd.cfm?a=ex cf: Something to Keep You Warm: The RolandFreeman Collection of Black American Quilts from the Mississippi Heartland. MississippiDept. of Archives & History, 1979; and More Than Just Something To Keep You Warm:Tradition and Change in African-American Quilting. A Quincentenary Tour. Philadelphia:Springside School, January 24 – March 13, 1992.FAITH: Do you find that happening a lot?CUESTA: Not a lot. But it happens.FAITH: People copying quilts.CUESTA: Out of Freeman’s collection. And this man in California who was shown thispicture and asked to make a quilt. And, of course, he was black, and therefore thatmade it legitimate. But it was an obvious copy of Roland Freeman. So Roland Freeman’searly collection of African-American quilts, mostly from Mississippi should be cited as animportant source of efforts of African-American quilters because he got them early onbefore there had been any outside influence.Section III – Exhibited QuiltsFAITH: Cuesta, is there anything else I should have asked you or any other statementthat you would like to make?BARBARA: I’m curious as to the quilts… You say you married and your husband’s familywas in Kentucky. I’m curious about the names of the quilts.page 13

CUESTA: My mother-in-law… That shoe quilt on the front of the book is from myhusband’s family. A lot of people call that the boot quilt but the family always called itthe shoe quilt. I think it had to do … because it was the late 1890’s or something likethat, and the women wore high top shoes. Now what’s so unusual about that is, youlook at that and you think that’s an appliqué but it’s not. They pieced that. And people,and they cut that by eye. Because all of those shoes are not the same size. And thedetails are not the same. So that was one of my husband’s …FAITH: May I give you this book? Give me that one so that you can make reference to,… because you’ve got a whole article in here.CUESTA: Well, yes. Most of these were quilts that were in the exhibition when we hadthe show. But this is my husband’s family.BARBARA: So it’s like a collage, is that right?FAITH: It’s not.CUESTA: It’s pieced. It’s just pieced in there. You’d be surprised.FAITH: It’s amazing.CUESTA: It is! Because it looks like it’s appliqué. They cut pieces to fit … What theydid was cut out the shoe… That’s was Fannie, her name was Fannie Cork, and she cutthat shoe and then … And part of it is pieced, too. Then she pieced the background.So …FAITH: Hold it up so we can get a picture of it.Figure 11: Lady’s Shoe Quilt, ca. 1890. By Fanny Cork. Cotton, pieced.67 x 93 inches. Thirty blocks. Collection of Cuesta Benberry.http://www.centerforthequilt.org/treasures/cb/gallery1.php?directory=photos&currentPic=14GRACE: And they made each square separately without a template.CUESTA: Evidently without a template. She must have done it by eye. Just by eye.BARBARA: I wanted to say also that when you were speaking about the quilt mastersrequests in terms of what quilts were made and how they looked, I immediately thoughtof the blacksmith, or any craftsman or artisan of the time doing their craft. The quiltmakers appear to have that same artisanship, talent, craft, lore where the quilt maker orthe master needle worker was creating art. Then the household would use it.FAITH: The only difference is, we’re talking about women. That’s the only difference.The men had status. They made those railings, those iron railings in Louisiana.page 14

CUESTA: I heard Phillip Simmons, that very famous iron worker in Charleston. He hadpictures of … I don’t know if he’s passed since then or not. He was pretty elderly then.All of his work all around Charleston, gates, and everything.BARBARA: Very fine craft.CUESTA: Yes!BARBARA: Well that’s what this made me think of as you were telling Faith about it.FAITH: And you know when you go to West Africa, they have a whole tradition ofwrought ironwork. They brought that when they came.BARBARA: Of course we know we brought this when we came.FAITH: But the women, that’s the issue. Women are not known for creating art that isinnovative and universal. Here we see that it is. And also it’s not from the Europeantradition of painting in the way that we can say that it is mainstream. It was definitelyused. And art’s not supposed to be used. It’s supposed to be looked at.Figure 12: Mask #45 1994. © Dindga McCannon. Leather, mud cloth,shells, snakeskin, cotton, found objects, lace. 50 x 25 inches. Collectionof the Artist. http://www.art-alive.com/dindga/index.htmBARBARA: It was made to be used.FAITH: It’s coming out of a humble tradition of utilitarianism. Yet it approaches the finearts. It is a fine art.BARBARA: I think beyond utilitarian. It was made to be used and it used scraps. It usedthings that were extra, and that were readily available to create beauty. Andutilitarianism. It used what was not usable to create something that was absolutelynecessary to survive, a warm, attractive bedcover.Figure 13: Pine Cone Quilt 1995. By Lucy Mingo, Gee’s Bend. 90 x 90inches; cottons, pieced. Collection of Cuesta Benberry. Photographcourtesy of Saint Louis Art Museum.FAITH: But we also notice in the early tools, working tools, they first come off verycrude. And then later on they begin to decorate it, design it. So this happens in everyform. But the big difference is, these are women. And those guys who were doing allthat hammering and stuff, those were men.Cuesta: …the family that was…Faith: See all that embroidery work in there? Hold that up. Barbara was trying to getan image of the embroidery.page 15

Cuesta: Yes. These are slave made quilts. This Broderie Perse, the cut-out chintz.http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?pbd=kentuckytest-a0a2q1-a This is theLiberian. The American Colonization Society had an effort during slavery time to pay theslave owners for their slaves and then they repatriate them to Liberia and Sierra Leone.But in later years, the churches, especially the Baptist Church, sent missionaries,American missionaries, to Liberia.Faith: Abyssinian Baptist Church did that.Cuesta: Did they? And this is one. The Liberians made this quilt for this missionaryfamily. Some of these children were even born in Africa because they stayed there solong and this was the most wonderful. And about 1922 when he was getting ready tocome back to the States and bring his family, the Liberian community…Faith: Could you talk a little briefly about those embroidery quilts?Cuesta: Both of these quilts were slave made quilts. I think this one is from Missouri.The slaves made two of these. Twin. After Emancipation then this was handed down inthe slave owner’s family. I found a number of them like that. When the slaves left thoseplantations, they didn’t take the quilts with them, they were considered the property ofthe slave-owners. And so they were handed down. And strange as it may seem, andproblematic as it may sound, it may be the cause that they were preserved. Becausewhen the slaves left with nothing almost. If they had had any quilts they would haveused them. But by them staying in the slave owner’s home they were preserved.Faith: They would have used them. We used ours. We would get a trunk from theSouth. When my Great-Great Grandmother died. We used everything that came in thattrunk. And consequently we don’t have it anymore.Barbara: May I ask about the term twin?Cuesta: Twin. There were two quilts just alike. So there were two of these. One waspreserved by this lady in Arrow Rock, Missouri. Mrs. Miller. She’s since passed. Faith,did you ever hear about 1970, Hallmark and Woman’s Day had a nationwide travelingexhibition of needlework, some of it was to the Queen, a big rug, Andy Warhol had apiece in it. It was called “Stitched in Time”? This quilt was in it. It traveled from oneend of the country to the other. It came to St. Louis. It had some quilts, I think, fromthe show.Barbara: So the pattern is embroidered onto it?Cuesta: This one, this is pieced. This is appliqué. This part here is pieced together thenit’s sewn down on top of that. Now this one has appliqué and embroidery. See theembroidery there? This one is a wig rose?Barbara: Turn that around. Which, the green?page 16

Cuesta: The buds have embroidery.Barbara: And the green?Cuesta: This? Brocade. Those are pieced then appliquéd onto there. This was a SueEllen Meyer, they live right here in St. Louis. She was going to try to come today.Here’s another one. This is in the Smithsonian. This was made by a 16-year-old slave.And they got documentation on this. So, a lot of times, that’s a problem. They have togo by word of mouth. And they don’t have any written documentation. So it’s calledinto question.Barbara: And the name of this one is the Tulip Quilt?Figure 14: The Tulip Quilt, ca. 1840. By Ann. Cotton, appliquéd, pieced.100 x 85 inches. Photo Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution,American Museum of Art History, Negative #76-13388.http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?pbd=kentuckytest-a0a2q6-aCuesta: Yes, right. That’s the Tulip Quilt. And that is in the Smithsonian collection. Ithink it came from Virginia. Pittsylvania County, Virginia. And they’re preserved.Barbara: Why are all the squares exactly the same?Cuesta: That was the style.Barbara: It’s like a stamp. Mechanical almost.Cuesta: And that is typical of the European style that they repeated. And they makethose blocks separately. They make up a pile of these blocks. Then this stripping iscalled sashing. Then they line them up. They may do it across this way or they may doit vertically, line them up and attach the sashing.Faith: Appliqué on top? How do they attach the sashing? Oh I see.Cuesta: Right there. Yes, that’s sashing.Barbara: Would you call that piecing?Cuesta: Yes, in a way. They’re piecing the sash. That is sewn. That is a typical stylethat they repeat the blocks. You can just sit up and make a whole bunch of blocks.Section IV – Contemporary Quiltspage 17

Faith: The first quilt I made was like that. My mother, The Artist and the Quilt show? Ipainted the squares and my mother created the sashing by sewing together triangleswhich she originally wanted to just free cut.Cuesta: By eye.Faith: And I said, oh my what is she going to do? I didn’t understand that free cutting.So she said, Ms. Ringgold you make it. You do what you want to do and when you getready I’ll sew it together for you. And so I got a template of this triangle and I cut it andshe sewed them together and created the sashes in between the paintings, the portraitsthat I did. But I always say that I wish I had kept my mouth shut and just let her do it. Itwould have been wonderful.Cuesta: Your mother was a designer anyway.Faith: Yes. But my mother had been taught quilt making from her grandmother whosemother had been a quilt maker during slavery. So she was the family quilt maker and shehad taught her daughter. Her daughter taught her daughter. And her daughter taughtmy mother. So there’s all this history. And so when I said, I intimated that she didn’treally know what she was talking about, she just said, look, you do it your way. And Iguess she didn’t want to try to explain it to me.Cuesta: You know I first read about you in connection with quilts in Patricia Manardi’s, Ithink it was called, FEMINIST JOURNAL ARTICLE. She tore Jonathan Holstein’s theoriesup! He was saying that women really didn’t make art. She mentioned you in that article.[Editor’s Note, cf. Patricia Mainardi, "Quilts: The Great American Art," Feminist ArtHistory: Questioning the Litany, edited by Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard (N.Y.:Harper and Row, 1982)]Now here’s another one. This is a Broderie Perse where they take a piece of chintz andcut it out very intricately and then appliqué it onto there. That’s an early style. That islate 18 th century early 19 th century technique. Nowadays they’re doing what you callretro-work and so they’re kind of going back to some of those. But …And here’s that wonderful Elizabeth Keckley, the one I said was here in St. Louis andtook care of 17 people. And was Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker. And these pieceswere supposed to have been from scraps left over from Mary Todd Lincoln’sdressmaking. Elizabeth Keckley was a leader in … When she was living in Washington,D.C. they had an organization that would bring the slaves in and care for them. She wasa part of that. And also it was the idea of really -- of helping the slaves to gain theirliberty. And so right in the center of this block she had written in embroidery the word‘liberty.’ And this is silk. And you know silk shreds over time, because as it dries out itshreds. So this quilt is very fragile.But I knew the man who at that time owned it. He was a dealer in Ohio. Ross Trump. Hesaid that he was not going to let it go out anymore because it’s too fragile. But he wasvery nice and he said yes it could be in my show if they would not hang it. Just lay itpage 18

flat, under glass, so nobody could touch it. But it couldn’t travel, because this show didtravel. So when he got it back he gave it to the University Ohio, at Akron, I think, inhonor of his mother. I don’t know whether she went to school there or not. And so heknew that they would preserve it and take care of it in their Textiles Department.http://dept.kent.edu/museum/collection/keckley.htmThis is a wonderful quilt.BARBARA: That looks like a story quilt.CUESTA: It is. The crucifixion and the Garden of Eden. Now this came from Georgia.The quilt, at that time belonged to Shelley Zegert, but it’s now at the High Museum. Ithink they bought it because it is a Georgia quilt.FAITH: We didn’t see any quilts when we were there. Did we?BARBARA: No, we saw Kente cloth and Ghanaian gold.CUESTA: At the High? Now here’s Georgia’s famous Lady’s Shoe Quilt.http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?pbd=kentuckytest-a0a2n6-aFAITH: That’s amazing.CUESTA: Now when you look at it closer, even in the picture, you can see that some ofthe shoes are different. Some are bigger. Cut by eye.FAITH: I notice when I was at the show, “Quilts for Change,” with Carolyn, she lookedcarefully to see things that you can miss if you’re looking from a distance. You have togo up and look at every aspect. And then it’s just amazing. The amount of work thatgoes into some of these.CUESTA: This was a family of quilters. This is really nice. Because in African-Americanfamilies the quilts that are handed down usually from one generation to another usuallyare used. And so it’s very difficult to find an African-American family that had quiltsfrom different generations still in existent.FAITH: Intact.CUESTA: So this would be it. This was a buggy quilt. They used to ride and you canstill see oil stains where this buggy quilt touched the wheels and the dirt of the wheelsand oil… There we go. She didn’t put…She just… That’s a buggy quilt. That was justgoing to be thrown over them as they rode around. You got the big pieces. Probablylarge stitches…BARBARA: Leftover scraps stuck in the middle…FAITH: Is that a combination of piecing and appliqué?page 19

CUESTA: I don’t think so. I think it was all pieced. I believe it was. But it was awonderful quilt. It was done in California. This was an unusual… It was just the top butin 1914 four churches there in Kansas had sort of a fundraiser and they used this quilt.People would pay to have their signatures embroidered on it.BARBARA: The quilter was copying the signature?CUESTA: Well, she would trace over it. She would write on it, and then she wouldembroider over the line. It was good because, I believe, when this exhibition was held inthis town two of those churches were still in existence. And so that kind of gave thatblack population a history. And they looked for their relatives’ names on here.FAITH: And they looked for some of the work that they no longer had.CUESTA: What happened with this top… The local quilt guild realized it was anhistorical artifact and so they raised money to purchase it. The person who had it was adealer. And then they gave it to the local historical society to preserve. Because all ofthese were early citizens. And, you know what else is important about this quilt top?Many of these people came in from Tulsa. You know when they had the big riot inTulsa? One part of the town, the black part of the town… It was just doing well. Theyhad hotels. They had stores. Nice homes, and everything. And then… We’re talkingthe early part of the 20 th century, around 1914/1913… They had this terrible riot andthose people from… I don’t know whether it was the Ku Klux Klan or just citizens in thewhite area were upset. They went in and they burned the hotels and they burned thebusinesses, and they burned homes and ran them out of town. And some of thesepeople on here, they went to Kansas, left Tulsa, and so it has a double history. Thisquilt of Harriet Tubman and this one…http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?pbd=kentuckytest-a0a2q2-a;http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?pbd=kentuckytest-a0a3e5-aThey’re in Atlanta, at the library there. A group in Marin County, out in California, madethese two quilts. This black philanthropist, Howard Thurman, (He’s dead now)commissioned these quilts to be made and then after he died, then his wife, because hehad close associations with Atlanta, it’s Atlanta University, then it was Atlanta BaptistFemale Seminary.FAITH: Is this one of Harriet Tubman, is that pieced?CUESTA: It’s appliquéd and pieced.FAITH: Not painted?CUESTA: No. Your painting is very unique.page 20

Figure 15: Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima? 1983. © Faith Ringgold.Acrylic on canvas, dyed, painted and pieced fabric. 90 x 80 inches.Private Collection http://www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/d34.htmFAITH: Because that looks like a painting. But Carolyn showed me how it’s done.Because she has quilts that look like paintings. But they’re not paintings. They are alsopieced, but she uses different fabrics that have a painterly quality for what she wants todo. It’s brilliant. I have to show you how to do it. It just blew me away. I couldn’tbelieve it. Fabulous. Grace I have to show you, too.Figure 16: All That Jazz 2000. © Carolyn Mazloomi. Cotton, silk, beads,buttons, machine appliqué, hand and machine quilted. 78 x 70 inches.Private Collection.CUESTA: Now this is a wonderful quilt.BARBARA: Those are squares?CUESTA: Yes. This has a special design. They’re all so many different scraps you canhardly tell it. But it was really a design quilt. I just love this quilt. I really wanted it.FAITH: You wanted what?CUESTA: I wanted this quilt …FAITH: For yourself?CUESTA: It’s so stark. It just catches you.FAITH: What year was that done?CUESTA: Well now, she made three and this was the last one. I think it was around1980. The first one was made about 1960.BARBARA: Pieced and appliquéd?CUESTA: She made three of these quilts. I think one is somewhere there in Georgia.FAITH: It seems to me like I’ve seen that quilt.CUESTA: One was in a private family.GRACE: Did she make them all the same?CUESTA: They’re all the same. Now I’ve got this quilt. Now that’s the freedom quiltingbee. The predecessor of the Gee’s Bend. And they call that Joseph’s coat of manycolors.page 21

Figure 17: Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors 1980. By Martin Luther KingJr., Quilting Bee. 55 x 38 inches; cotton. Collection of Cuesta Benberry.http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?pbd=kentuckytest-a0a2o8-aBARBARA: From the Bible.CUESTA: This is Carolyn Harris of Detroit. She’s an interior decorator by profession.But she’s also a quilt maker. And she made this one when Mandela was released.BARBARA: Reparation.CUESTA: This is another one that I just love. And she has influenced so many, TerryManget, and all these people. They were influenced by Mrs. Beatty. And I went to Mrs.Beatty’s house. I got pictures. She made these quilts and they’re… like movement.Just moving all over the place.FAITH: Rhythm!CUESTA: Yes. Just moving all over the place. I think she went to the 1939 World’sFair and looked at the quilts. So she started making her own. And she has influenced, Idon’t how many people to make quilts that seem to be moving.FAITH: Without the blocks.CUESTA: Without the blocks. Yes. She’s good. I felt so fortunate to be able to meether. To go to her house. This is Carolyn Mazloomi. That’s hers.FAITH: I have three from that series.Figure 18: African Jazz Series #10 1990. © Michael A. Cummings.Cotton, machine appliquéd. 98 x 68 inches. Collection of the Artist.http://www.michaelcummings.com/africanjazz.htmlCUESTA: And this is Michael Cummings. The Jazz Series. That became very popular. Ithink Hallmark, or was it Absolut Vodka? One of them carried it either in theiradvertisement or made cards or something. This is Jim Smute(?). That’s JosephineBaker.FAITH: And who’s that?CUESTA: My one, my sole effort at making a quilt.BARBARA: Let’s give an applause. “African-American Women and Quilts.”Figure 19: Afro-American Women and Quilts 1979. © Cuesta Benberry.Cotton, pieced, appliquéd, embroidered, ink-inscribed. Twelve blocks. 78page 22

x 53 inches. Collection of the Artist.http://www.centerforthequilt.org/treasures/cb/gallery1.php?directory=photos&currentPic=6CUESTA: I made that in 1979, more or less for lectures. See I put George’s family inthere. Samples of quilts that had been made by blacks. Except this one was an antislaveryfair in Boston and the quilt was described in 1836 by Liberator Magazine. But itjust said crib quilt and then they wrote the verse out. The verse is very heart touchingabout a slave woman and her child being sold away. So I went through a whole researchproject to discover, they said a star quilt but in 1836, you know… hundreds of star…and so I tried to figure out which one and I ended up with this. And then I found thatquilt, in Boston, it was in the New England Society for the Preservation of Antiquities.And they sent me a picture of the quilt. And that was the right block.FAITH: So I think this has been a fantastic… This is our first, you know. And we’re soglad that you’re the first. Because everyone else has to measure up, don’t they?CUESTA: I was so surprised. But it’s wonderful and I really appreciate it.FAITH: Thank-you for giving us a fantastic interview.Selected BibliographyPRIMARY SOURCESBenberry, Cuesta. “African-American Quilts: Paradigms of Black Diversity,” inInternational Review of African-American Art 12.3 (1995): 30-7.---. Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts. Louisville,Kentucky: Kentucky Quilt Project as part of Louisville Celebrates the AmericanQuilt, Museum of History and Science, February 7, 1992 – March 31, 1992.---. Foreword. Black Threads: An African American Quilting Sourcebook. By Kyra E. Hicks.Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Co., 2003.---. Foreword. Journey of the Spirit: the Art of Gwendolyn A. Magee by Gwendolyn A.Magee. Ed. Rene Paul Barilleaux, essay by Roland L. Freeman. Jackson: MississippiMuseum of Art, 2004.---. “Marie D. Webster: A Major Influence on Quilt Design in the 20 th Century.” Quilter’sNewsletter Magazine 224 (1990): 32-5.---. Foreword. Nimble Needle Treasures Magazine Comprehensive Cumulative Index.Ponca City, OK, 2004.http://www.nimbleneedletreasures.com/indexforward.htmpage 23

---. A Piece of My Soul: Quilts by Black Arkansans, with an introduction by Raymond G.Dobard. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000.--- Foreword. Spirits of the Cloth: Contemporary African-American Quilts. By CarolynMazloomi. Preface by Faith Ringgold. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers1998.--- “The Story-Tellers: African-American Quilters Come to the Fore” Quilter’s NewsletterMagazine 227 (1990): 46-7.--- 20 th Century Quilts 1900-1970: Women Make Their Mark. The Museum of theAmerican Quilter’s Society, May 1, 1997.---, and Carol Crabb. A Patchwork of Pieces: An Anthology of Quilt Stories, 1845 –1940. Paducah: American Quilters Society, 1993.---, and Carol Pinney Crabb (editors) 2004. Love of Quilts: A Treasure of Classic QuiltingStories. Voyageur Press, Minnesota, March 1, 2004.---, and Joyce Gross 1997. Twentieth Century Quilts: Women Make Their Mark.Museum of the American Quilters Society, Paducah, Kentucky.“Cuesta Benberry Quilt Research Collection,” Quilters Hall of Fame Newsletter. Spring2004. p. 3.Great American Quilt Revival, Bonesteel Films 2005. A PBS Documentary by GeorgiaBonsteel, filmed and edited by her son Paul Bonsteel featuring Cuesta Benberry.Quilting: The Fabric of a Nation August 1990. A film by Walter J. Klein Ltd., sponsoredby Better Homes and Gardens Books, Meredith Corp. Featuring Cuesta Benberry.SECONDARY SOURCESBeardsley, John, William Arnett, Paul Arnett and Jane Livingston 2002. Gee’s Bend: TheWomen and Their Quilts. Introduction by Alvia Wardlaw. Foreword by PeterMarzio. Atlanta: Tinwood Books in conjunction with the Museum of Fine Art,Houston. 2002.Bowman, Doris. The Smithsonian Treasure: American Quilts. Washington, D.C.:Smithsonian Institution, 1991.Brackman, Barbara. An Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. Paducah: AmericanQuilter’s Society 1993.page 24

---. “Sharing the Past… Creating a Future: An Overview of Quilt Museums and Archives.”Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine 228 (1990). 32 cf.Callahan, Nancy. The Freedom Quilting Bee: Folk Art and the Civil Rights Movement. FireAnt Books 1993.Davis, Olga Idriss. “The Rhetoric of Quilts: Creating Identity in African-AmericanChildren’s Literature.” African American Review 32.1 (1998), 67-78.Freeman, Roland L. A Communion of the Spirits: African-American Quilters, Preservers,and Their Stories. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1996.Fry, Gladys-Marie. Stitched from the Soul: Slave Quilts from the Ante-Bellum South.New York: Dutton Studio Books, 1990. Penguin Group, in association with theMuseum of American Folk Art.Grudin, Eva Ungar. Stitching Memories: African-American Story Quilts. Williamstown:Williams College Museum of Art, 1990.Horton, Laurel. Rev. of Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts,by Cuesta Benberry. The Journal of American Folklore 106.421 (1993), 355-6.Keckley, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the WhiteHouse. New York:G. W. Carleton & Co.,1868. Introd. James Olney. New York:Oxford University Press, 1988.http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=ABN9052.0001.001Kranz, Rachel. “Keckley, Elizabeth.” African-American Business Leaders andEntrepreneurs, A to Z of African Americans, African-American History & Culture.New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2004. www.fofweb.com.Lyons, Mary E. Stitching Stars: The Story of Quilts of Harriet Powers. New York:Scribner’s Sons, 1993.Mazloomi, Carolyn and Patricia Pongracz. Threads of Faith: Recent Works from theWomen of Color Quilters Network. 2004.Robinson, Charlottee, ed. The Artist and the Quilt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983.Rutberg, Becky. Mary Lincoln’s Dressmaker: Elizabeth Keckley’s Remarkable Rise fromSlave to White House Confidante. New York: Walker & Company, 1995.page 25

Sherrow, Victoria. “Keckley, Elizabeth.” A to Z of American Business Leaders andEntrepreneurs, A to Z of Women, African-American History & Culture. New York:Facts on File, Inc., 2002. www.fofweb.com.Wahlman, Maude Southwell. Signs and Symbols: African Images in African AmericanQuilts (2 nd Edition). 2001.Webster, Marie D. Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them. (The first quilt book.)Doubleday, Page & Co., 1915. With a biography by granddaughter, RosalindWebster Perry. Santa Barbara, California: Practical Patchwork Co., 1990.http://www.practicalpatchwork.com/quilts.htmlList of ImagesFigure 1: Echoes of Harlem 1980. © Faith Ringgold. Acrylic on canvas, dyed, paintedand pieced fabric. 96 x 84 inches. Collection of Philip Morris Companies, Inc.http:/www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/d33.htmFigure 2: Ode to Harriet Powers 1995. © Peggie L. Hartwell. Hand appliquéd andmachine quilted cotton. 42 x 48 inches. Collection of Carolyn Mazloomi.http://www.antiquesandthearts.com/a2000.asp?a=GalleryHopping01-09-2001-14-23-45Figure 3: Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt, 1930 – 1970. By Hattie Williams Jonesand Mary Allen Smith Williams. Polyester, knit, cotton, pieced. 93 x 72 1/4 inches.Purchase. Collection of the Old State House Museum.http://www.oldstatehouse.com/piece%2Dof%2Dmy%2Dsoul/quilting%2Dfamilies/default.asp?fn=The+Allen+Sisters+%26+Descendants&fid=1&id=14&qid=4&qn=Hattie+Williams+JonesFigure 4: Butterfly Quilt, ca. 1930. By Authorine Wilson Anderson. Cotton, appliquéd.Collection of Old State House Museum 96.01.7.http://www.oldstatehouse.com/piece-of-my-soul/quiltingfamilies/default.asp?fn=Frances+Smith+Wilson+%26+Descendants&fid=2&id=24&qid=6&qn=Authorine+Wilson+AndersonFigure 5: The Liberty Quilt, ca. 1870. By Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, former slave. Silk,pieced, appliquéd, embroidered. 85 1/2 x 85 1/2 inches. Collection of the Kent StateUniversity Museum.http://www.centerforthequilt.org/treasures/cb/gallery1.php?directory=photos&currentPic=15; http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?pbd=kentuckytest-a0a2n5-aFigure 6: Log Cabin Quilt, ca. 1890. By Hattie Collins, a former slave. Cotton, pieced.74 x 63 1/2 inches. Purchase. Collection of Old State House Museum 88.17.3.page 26

http://www.oldstatehouse.com/piece-of-my-soul/quiltingfamilies/default.asp?fn=Hattie+Collins+%26+Her+Granddaughters&fid=3&id=28&qid=12&qn=Hattie+CollinsFigure 7: Log Cabin Quilt, Medallion Variation (also called Pig Pen), ca. 1955. By MaryAllen Smith Williams. Wool flannel, cotton, pieced. 82 x 73 inches. Purchase.Collection of Old State House Museum 95.01.7.http://www.oldstatehouse.com/piece%2Dof%2Dmy%2Dsoul/quilting%2Dfamilies/default.asp?fn=The+Allen+Sisters+%26+Descendants&fid=1&id=9&qid=2&qn=Mary+Allen+Smith+WilliamsFigure 8: Jesus Bearing the Cross 2003. © Michael A. Cumming. Cotton, linen, machineappliquéd and quilted. 84 x 84 inches. Collection of the Artist.http://www.michaelcummings.com/other.htmlFigure 9: The Family Quilt from Solid as a Rock series 1989. By Carolyn Mazloomi.Cotton, fabric paint, pieced. 49 x 39 inches. Collection of the Museum of Arts andDesign, New York City.http://www.centerforthequilt.org/treasures/cb/gallery1.php?directory=photos&currentPic=18Figure 10: Jewel Fire 1996. © Gwendolyn Magee. Cottons, hand dyed fabrics by JudiRobertson, specialty threads, machined pieced and quilted. 108 1/2 x 88 inches.Collection of the artist. Photo by Roland Freeman.http://www.quiltethnic.com/mission.htmlFigure 11: Lady’s Shoe Quilt, ca. 1890. By Fanny Cork. Cotton, pieced. Thirty blocks.67 x 93 inches. Collection of Cuesta Benberry.http://www.centerforthequilt.org/treasures/cb/gallery1.php?directory=photos&currentPic=14Figure 12: Mask #45 1994. © Dindga McCannon. Leather, mud cloth, shells, snakeskin,cotton, found objects, lace. 50 x 25 inches. Collection of the Artist. http://www.artalive.com/dindga/index.htmFigure 13: Pine Cone Quilt 1995. By Lucy Mingo, Gee’s Bend. Cottons, pieced. 90 x90 inches. Collection of Cuesta Benberry. Photograph courtesy of Saint Louis ArtMuseum.Figure 14: The Tulip Quilt, ca. 1840. By Ann. Cotton, appliquéd, pieced. 100 x 85inches. Photo Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution, American Museum of Art History,Negative #76-13388. http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?pbd=kentuckytesta0a2q6-aFigure 15: Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima? 1983. © Faith Ringgold. Acrylic on canvas,dyed, painted and pieced fabric. 90 x 80 inches. Private Collectionhttp://www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/d34.htmpage 27

Figure 16: All That Jazz 2000. © Carolyn Mazloomi. Cotton, silk, beads, buttons,machine appliqué, hand and machine quilted. 78 x 70 inches. Private Collection.http://www.mindspring.com/~mazloomi/jazz.htmlFigure 17: Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors 1980. By Martin Luther King Jr., Quilting Bee.Cotton. 55 x 38 inches. Collection of Cuesta Benberry.http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?pbd=kentuckytest-a0a2o8-aFigure 18: African Jazz Series #10 1990. © Michael A. Cummings. Cotton, machineappliquéd. 98 x 68 inches. Collection of the Artist.http://www.michaelcummings.com/africanjazz.htmlFigure 19: Afro-American Women and Quilts 1979. © Cuesta Benberry. Cotton, pieced,appliquéd, embroidered, ink-inscribed. 78 x 53 inches. Twelve blocks. Collection of theArtist.http://www.centerforthequilt.org/treasures/cb/gallery1.php?directory=photos&currentPic=6page 28