Black American Quilts

Rocqi's Reflections

Black America HAS a CULTURE!!!

I am so DONE with everyone shaming Black Americans for not having a culture. The difference between us and the rest of the Diaspora is that we still live with our colonizers. So they have TAKEN our culture. Erased our culture. Made us devalue our culture ("ghetto" earrings, nails, hair bonnets, and colorful names). But best believe WE HAVE A CULTURE. And I will be reclaiming it for the generations that come from me. We have a language. We have countless music. We have fashion. We have dance (put some respect on twerking!). We have our hair. We have food We have holidays. My husband and I will be going to the National African American Museum of History and Culture and best believe I will be even more cemented in my Black American identity. Attending this after rewatching SINNERS made it hit even more.

Quiltmaking is Black American. Specifically using scraps of fabric and making something out of nothing. I was also reminded with the book, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, how quiltmaking was used to guide passengers on the Underground Railroad. But the biggest aspect of quiltmaking was that it documented our stories. This series was for the Second Great Migration.

This exhibit was the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

1. Untitled (Patchwork with Work Clothes) Late 1940s, Alto Texas, Minnie Skinner. With Beyonce's Cowboy Carter tour teaching us about Negro Cloth, this one spoke deeply to me.

2. Riding High 2013, Marion Coleman. Marion was born in 1920 in Wichita Falls, Texas -> Oakland. The Oakland Black Cowboy Association has an annual parade and festival.

3. Untitled (Appliqué with Embroidery) 1930, Macon Georgia, Hattie Mitchell. Following a trip to France as a domestic servant; zoom in to see the embroidered names of places. Hattie was born into slavery in 1854 in GA.

4. Untitled (Patchwork) 1930s, Macon Georgia, Monin Brown and Hattie Mitchell. Monin was born into slavery in 1850 in VA or GA.

5. Untitled (Medallion) 1930s, near McComb, Mississippi -> Fillmore Street in San Francisco, owned by Clara Belle Coleman. This one made me cry as some of the fabric used I've seen in Association with my mother.

6. Mary Bright Commemorative Quilt (with Dresden Plate, Monkey Wrench, Wild Goose Chase, Fan, Basket of Flowers, Star of Lemoyne, Nine Patch Blocks) 1955-56, Oakland. Created by Alice Neal born in 1916 Marion, Louisiana. Quilt honored her mother, Mary Bright, who taught her how to quilt.

7. Dolls by Angelia Tobias, 1990s, Oakland and Merced California.

8. Untitled (Bars), 1990s, Texas -> Oakland. Willia Ette Graham b. 1903, Minden, Texas. Johnnie Wade b. 1908, Esperanza, Texas. Laverne Brackens born in 1927 Fairfield, Texas came from a generation of quiltmakers. "In my family at first quiltmaking meant warmth and love. You know these cold nights you put a quilt on and you be so warm and you have a feeling that the person who made that quilt loves you. And when they make one so beautiful that you don't want to turn loose from it, that is precious. I have 56 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great- grandchildren and I made everyone a quilt."

9. Crocheted Rug, 1990, by Gladys C. Durham-Henry b. 1906, Butler, Texas.

10. Untitled (Double Medallion) Pieced by Durham-Henry, 1993, Butler, TX. Quilted 1993, Oakland by Rose McDowell b.1914, near Wilmington, North Carolina

11. Untitled (Necktie Quilt) 1989, Oakland by Gerstine Scott b. 1934, Henderson, Texas.

12. Untitled (Africa Blocks) Pieced and quilted by in 1991, Oakland by Lily Mae Chiles b. 1918, Smetana, Texas. Embroidered in 1991, Oakland by Clarence Jackson b. 1981, Oakland. Embroidered and quilted in 1991, Oakland by Tina Jackson b. 1979, Oakland. Quilted by Ruthie Love, 1991, Oakland.

13. 33%, 2024 by Carrie Johnson b. 1984, San Diego, California. Interpretation of a Cathedral Window.

14. Legacy 2025 by Sandra Oby b.1959, Berkeley, CA. Honoring her grandmother who taught her how to quilt and her family's journey from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the Bay Area.

15. I didn't get the artists names.

16. Cultural Merger at Crossroads, USA, 1990 Richmond & Oakland, CA. Pieced by Sherry Ann Byrd b. 1951, Fairfield, Texas. Quilted by Irene Bankhead b. 1925. Prentiss, Mississippi. Untitled (Double Medallion, Half-Square Triangles) Pieced by Byrd, 1984-87, Richmond, California Quilted by Bankhead, 1987, Oakland.