Black Americans HAVE A Culture!!

I AM Black American

Black America is an ethnicity, a history, an ancestry, a culture.

One element of our culture is the fact that we made quilts.

Quilts are blankets that include a top layer which is usually decorative, a middle layer called "batting" which provides warmth, and the bottom layer which is usually plain but can still be decorative, all stitched together. Quilts are how our ancestors documented our stories and passed them down.

Types of quilts are:

• Patchwork quilts which are pieces of fabric sewn together.

• Strip quilts which are strips of fabric sewn together. This seemed to be the most accessible to our enslaved ancestors.

• Appliqued quilts which are when fabric shapes are sewn onto a background fabric.

While our African Ancestors were weavers with Kente and Mudcloth, our Black American ancestors were quilters. But how many of us knew that?

25th Anniversary of the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland, California - Lakeview Branch of Oakland Public Library

The Quilt Code of the Underground Railroad

s/o to Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard

and The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud

Quilts from the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland - Laney College Library exhibit, February - March 2017 and 2013 Quilt Show.

"There is greatness in our D.N.A." - ActivelyBlack

Quilts from the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland - 2013 Quilt Show and Laney College Library exhibit, February - March 2017.

While many of us don't even know how to sew past middle school life skills class, we must never forget our history, our ancestry, and culture. Thank you to the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland for keeping the tradition alive. Shoutout to all of those who picked up crocheting as a new tradition of the culture.

I have found a company who turns old t-shirts into quilts and I will be using them for my HBCU shirts and Family Reunion shirts to have something to pass down.

And don't forget to check out the time I explored Black American Quilts at the Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California.

I will be going on a journey of exploring Black American culture. Next up is folklore!