From the late 18th century through the end of the Civil War, the Underground Railroad was a network of safe houses where freedom-seekers from the South could find safety and shelter as they traveled north, sometimes all the way to Canada to escape capture and prosecution. It’s possible that there may have even been a secret code in the shapes of quilt blocks, which when arranged or displayed in a certain way could have helped direct people to stops along the route. This has never been confirmed with solid evidence, but even if it’s a thing of legend, the folk narrative is a powerful instrument for meaning in the oft-erased history of African American experience.
From 18th-century hand-appliqué cotton bedcovers to contemporary narrative textile works and an elaborate array in between, Black quilts tell innumerable stories. For instance, Viola Burla Leak’s “Watts Riot” (2021) taps into the violent uprising in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood in August 1965, a response to racist abuse and prejudice by the Los Angeles Police Department in addition to poverty and employment discrimination. And in 1934, Ruth Clement Bond incorporated an enduring symbol of Black power and autonomy with a representation of a fist holding a red lightning bolt, flanked by the American flag and the blazing sun.
Leak and Bond’s creations are just two examples amid a veritable wealth of stitched history in Stories in the Seams: A People’s History of Black Quilts and Their Makers, forthcoming from Chronicle Books. Thoroughly researched by Sharbreon Plummer, the richly illustrated volume delves into the centuries-old practice, illuminating the societal shifts and technological advances that contributed to ways of making and a culture that evolved around textiles.
One of the most crucial themes in Stories in the Seams touches on quilting’s roots in the cotton industry and slavery, especially in the American South during the 18th and 19th centuries. Enslaved women often hand-sewed bedspreads and other items for plantation homes, but following Emancipation, when Black individuals “were no longer bound by the laws of chattel slavery, they entered Reconstruction with the promise of freedom but little material support to build new lives,” Plummer writes in an introductory chapter titled “Homecoming.” “Faced with the uncertainties of labor, land, and citizenship, they relied on their quiltmaking and textile work to generate resources.”
In addition to vibrant images of a huge variety of projects from narrative compositions to incredibly meticulous geometric works, readers discover archival photos of individuals who have defined the tradition. Plummer guides us through centuries of meticulous making and innovation, exploring historical and contemporary methods, materials, and symbolism. Pieces by the Quilters of Gee’s Bend are complemented by 21st-century works by artists like Bisa Butler, Basil Kincaid, and Faith Ringgold, whose practices expand how we think of the craft.
Stories in the Seams is slated for release on October 6. Pre-order your copy on Bookshop.
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