Resources
Books and Publications
AFRICAN-AMERICAN
Quilt artist Kyra Hicks has documented the most extensive listing of papers and publications about African-Americans and quilting ever compiled. It is scheduled for publication in November 2002 under the title, BLACK THREADS: AN AFRICAN AMERICAN SOURCEBOOK (see below).
Arnett, William, et al. Gee’s Bend: The Women and Their Quilts.
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350 color illustrations plus 30 black and white illustrations and charts. Another exploration of the quilts created in this African-American community since the 19th century.
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Arnett, William, et al. The Quilts of Gee’s Bend: Masterpieces From A Lost Place.
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Book includes 110 color illustrations
and an historical overview of quilting in this African-American
community over the past 200 years.
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Benberry, Cuesta. A
Piece of My Soul: Quilts by Black Arkansans. University of
Arkansas: 2000.
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Cuesta Benberry, an internationally
renown quilt historian curated the exhibit this book documents.
The book showcases more than 75 quilts in full color and provides
commentary about the history of each.
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Benberry, Cuesta. Always
There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts..
Kentucky Quilt Project: 19922.
Although it is now out-of-print,
this book is so important that it must be mentioned. Prior to
publication of Always There: The African-American Presence in
American Quilts, quilts created by African-Americans that could not
be defined as folk art and that did not otherwise fit within a very
narrowly defined range of styles, patternings and craftsmanship was
either ignored or dismissed by those who established themselves as
"scholars" of African-Americation quilting. As an
internationally renown and highly respected quilt historian and true
scholar, Cuesta Benberry was well positioned to challenge the status
quo. The book documents that she did this successfully. In addition to
the out-of-print book search engine located on the main Books
and Publications page, you may still be able to locate a copy of
this book by checking with the gift shops of art musuems.
Ezell, Nora McKeon.
My Quilts and Me: The Diary of an American Quilter. Black Belt
Press, Montgomery, Alabama, 1999.
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This richly illustrated and detailed book about
the work of the Alabama folkartist Nora Ezell is also a diary of
her thoughts as she creates her quilts. Named a 1992 National
Heritage Fellow in the National Endowment for the Arts program
that recognizes individuals who carry on folk traditions in the
United States, in 1990, she also received the Alabama Folk
Heritage Award, the state's highest honor for achievement in the
traditional arts.
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Flournoy, Valerie. The Patchwork Quilt. Pearson
Learning: 1985.
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A little girl makes a quilt with her
grandmother.
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Freeman, Roland. A
Communion of the Spirits: African American Quilters, Preservers, and
Their Stories. Nashville, Tennessee: Rutledge Hill Press,
1997.
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Considered the "Bible" for information
about quilts, quilters and quilting traditions among
African-Americans, this book has almost 400 pages with extensive
profiles of African-American quilters throughout the United
States. Arranged chronologically, Roland Freeman as a
photodocumentarian has captured history in the making and has
highlighted the lives and creativity of many who would otherwise
be forever unknown. The profiles are accompanied by full color
photographs.
NOTE: a signed
copy of this book is available through the Mississippi
Cultural Crossroads store.
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Fry, Gladys-Marie. Stitched
From the Soul: Slave Quilts From the Antebellum South. University
of North Carolina Press: 2002
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This richly illustrated book offers a glimpse into the
lives and creativity of African American quilters during the era
of slavery. Originally published in 1989, Stitched from the
Soul was the first book to examine the history of quilting in
the enslaved community and to place slave-made quilts into
historical and cultural context. It remains a beautiful and moving
tribute to an African American tradition.
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Hicks, Kyra. Black
Threads: An African American Sourcebook. McFarland and Company:
2002.
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No
Picture Yet Available
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Quilt artist Kyra Hicks has
documented the most extensive listing of papers and publications
about African-Americans and quilting ever compiled. This will be
“a must have” in your collection of books about quilting among
African-Americans.
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Hopkinson, Deborah, Sweet
Clara and the Freedom Quilt.
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A young slave girl makes a quilt that
is a map to freedom.
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Hopkinson, Deborah.
Under the Quilt of Night. Atheneum: 2002.
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Under the quilt of night a young slave girl leads her
loved ones away from the slave master who worked them:
"hoeing and picking, / mending and sewing, / till my hands
got raw." In this striking companion to Deborah Hopkinson and
James Ransome's Sweet Clara and the
Freedom Quilt,
Hopkinson uses the rhythm of verse to echo the drumming of the
slaves' feet as they travel along the Underground Railroad in
pre-Civil War times.
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Luke-Boone, Ronke. African
Fabrics: Sewing Contemporary Fashion With Ethnic Flair: Patterns.
Krause Publications: 2001.
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Explores the versatility of African
textiles. 14 projects and 3 patterns are included.
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Lyons, Mary E. Stitching
Stars: The Story Quilts of Harriet Powers. Aladdin Paperbacks:
1997.
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Biography of Harriet Powers and her
two Bible Quilts, one of which now resides in the Smithsonian.
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Marsh, Carole. Let's
Quilt Our African-American Heritage & Stuff It Topographically!
[no picture available]
Includes
information about the African-American contribution to quilting plus
instructions and ideas for creating a simple or complex quilt featuring
various aspects of the African-American experience. Click
Here to Order
Mazloomi, Carolyn. In
the Spirit of the Cloth: Contemporary African American Quilts.
Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1998.
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This exquisitely beautiful book showcases 150
quilts created by 63 contemporary African-American quilt artists.
Full-color photographs capture the vibrancy, ingenuity, creativity
and talent of these men and women. The book divides the work by
theme including: "Visions of Africa"; "Memories of
Home"; "Healing: A Balm in Gilead"; "Sacred
Space"; "Social and Political Protest";
"Praise Songs"; "Black, Female, and
Empowered"; and "The Gallery".
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McDowell, Marsha. African
American Quiltmaking in Michigan. Michigan State University
Press, 1997.
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This book documents quilts by African-American
quilters and the tradition of quilting by African-Americans in the
state of Michigan.
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Perry, Phyllis Alicia.
Stigmata.
Hyperion: 1998.
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Written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor, this
remarkable novel captures the reader immediately. We are caught up
in the life of Lizzie, who at 14 inherited a quilt made by her
grandmother. This quilt documents the story of her ancestor, Ayo,
who as a child was torn from her family in Africa and enslaved in
America. Lizzie begins reliving the life of Ayo (slave name
Bessie) and marks of stigmata from the chafing of chains and
slashing of whips appear on her body. Fear that it is
self-mutilation and insanity cause Lizzie to be institutionalized.
How Lizzie reclaims her life and comes to terms with the ravages
of the past as they affect the present are fascinating.
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Porter, Connie Rose. Addy’s
Wedding Quilt. Pleasant Company Publications: 2001
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This is a book in the American Girl series about
a 9-year old African-American girl who wants to make a wedding
quilt for her parents (who were forbidden to wed when they were
slaves).
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Ringgold, Faith. Dancing
At the Louvre: Faith Ringgold’s French Collection and Other Story
Quilts. University of California Press, 1998.
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Faith Ringgold redefines the solemn artistic canon
represented by Van Gogh, Matisse, and Monet with her intricate,
glorious story quilts. Their fabric and paint layers combine
magical realism with politics, feminism, satire, memoir and the
weight of African American history. Dancing at the Louvre
was designed to accompany a traveling show of Ringgold's work. It
pairs gorgeously rendered color plates with pithy text on her art,
life, and politics.
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Ringgold, Faith. We
Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold. New York:
Bulfinch Press, 1995. [No Cover
Picture Available]
In this lavishly illustrated book, Faith
Ringgold talks openly and frankly about her life, including relationship
problems with her daughters and coping with racism and sexism in the art
world.
Ringgold, Faith. Cassie’s Word Quilt.
Knopf, 2002.
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In
Cassie’s Word Quilt, a young African American girl takes early readers on a
remarkable tour of her 1930s-era Harlem home, school, and
neighborhood. The tour serves as a vocabulary jaunt, as well.
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Ringgold,
Faith. Tar Beach. Crown Publisher: 1991
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An 8-year old girl dreams about flying over the
rooftop of her Harlem apartment building.
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Ross, Doran. Wrapped
in Pride: Ghanian Kente and African American Identity.
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Kente is not only the best known of all African
textiles, it is also one of the most admired of all fabrics
worldwide. Originating among the Asante peoples of Ghana and the
Ewe peoples of Ghana and Togo, this brilliantly colored and
intricately patterned strip-woven cloth was traditionally
associated with royalty. Over time, however, it has come to be
worn and used in many different contexts. In Wrapped in Pride,
seven distinguished scholars present an exhaustive examination of
the history of kente from its earliest use in Ghana to its
present-day impact in the African Diaspora. 347 pages.
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Tobin, Jacqueline L.
and Raymond G. Dobard. Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story
of Quilts and the Underground Railroad. New York: Doubleday.
1999.
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This is a remarkable story
about how quilts may have been used to send coded messages to help
slaves runaway to freedom on the Underground Railroad. It is based
on the story that was passed down through the generations of a
Charleston, South Carolina family, and related to the author by
Ozella McDaniel Williams.
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Vaughan, Marcia K. The
Secret to Freedom. Lee & Low Books: 2001
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A story about the underground railroad and codes
hidden in quilt patchwork patterns.
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Wahlman, Maude Southwell. Signs
and Symbols: African Images in American Quilts (2nd Edition).
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In this edition, Maude Wahlman continues to
explore the theory that quilts made by African-Americans
incorporate African patterns and meanings. Over 150 full-color
pictures of quilts are included.
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Wilson, Sule Gregc. African
American Quilting: The Warmth of Tradition (African Diaspora).
Rosen Publishing Group: 1999.
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A delightful
treasure trove of information about quilts, history, and
tradition. Wilson discusses three types of quilts-whole cloth
work, piecing, and applique-before turning to the fabrics and
traditions of African textile work.
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Calendars
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Faith
Ringgold 2003 Calendar
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Picture
Not Available
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Signs
& Symbols 2003 Calendar: African Images in African-American
Quilts by Maude Wahlman
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Ethnic
Paper Dolls
Ethnic
Coloring Books