Quilting and sprituality

I saw this photograph on Travis Chumley's Facebook page yesterday. The caption accompanying the photo indicates that it was taken in Powell Valley, Claiborne County, Tennessee, in the 1940s and also says "Photograph of six women standing around a table saying grace. They are outside and the table is full of food. The women have gathered together to spend the afternoon working on a quilt. Photo: Joe Clark HBSS - Clark Family Photo Collection - Special Collections Library - University of North Texas." The photo at the bottom of this post comes from the same sources.

Coincidentally, National Public Radio (NPR) ran an interesting story on quilting that touched on matters of faith yesterday. The story summary says "For some Black Americans, family histories can be hard to find. Slavery and the discriminatory laws that lingered years later prevented the documentation and record keeping of Black Americans. Today, a group of Black quilters from across the Northeast honor their ancestors through bold and colorful quilts, illustrating their experiences and telling their stories."

Photo from NPR/Connecticut Public Radio

One of the women featured in the NPR story said, "Quilting is also a way to connect with the past, while wrestling with ongoing injustice today. When things happen, like George Floyd, you know we make quilts about that...When loved ones pass away, we make quilts. We honor them with fabric that they wore.” Her name is Love, which seems so appropriate.

You can learn more about the women featured in the NPR story by going to this 2022 Where We Live interview with the group co-founder Susi Ryan. According to a Connecticut Public Radio note, that show also features textile artist and author Jen Hewett, who talked about her recent book featuring hundreds of creators of color who were interviewed about their relationship to making.

There is much to say here or be silent with. I know some women quilters who either do their work mostly alone or who go to quilting stores for companionship and inspiration. Quilting still seems like what we used to respectfully call "women's space." I'm glad that quilting still goes on, and most cold nights I sleep under a quilt made by a woman in McDowell County, West Virginia who used old bluejeans and simple fabric combinations to come up with something that well represents her region. It has handy pockets in it for stuffing things. Her name and address are on the quilt but I have not contacted her. I also have a quilt made out of my old union tee-shirts many years ago and that quilt holds more than a decade of union struggles in it.

I hope that women continue to gather in groups away from businesses and do their quilting with some praying or spiritual work and eating and getting along with one another. 

My heart just prays for a time when we can tear down some of the barriers that separate us and pray together or share our spiritual paths and share our creative work. 

Claiborne County, Tennessee, 1940s...
Caption: Four women are shown working together on quilts. Several completed quilts are shown hanging on a building behind them.
Photo: Joe Clark HBSS - Clark Family Photo Collection - Special Collections Library - University of North Texas