Little-Known Black History Fact: The Gee’s Bend Quilts

Date: Friday, December 04, 2009, 5:27 am
By: Erica Taylor, The Tom Joyner Morning Show

Gee’s Bend lies in the black belt of Wilcox County near Selma, Alabama. The land became a settlement for former slaves in the early 1900’s.
Gee's Bend became an important part of the mid-1960’s Freedom Quilting Bee movement. The bee was a league of black women who quilted to feed their families. The women developed a distinctive, bold and sophisticated quilting style based on a mix of traditions. Those women would pass their quilting skills down through at least six generations to the present.
The women consider the process of "piecing" the quilt top to be an artistic honor. The top is always pieced by a single quilter and reflects their own vision. The process of quilting, or sewing everything together, is performed among small groups of women.
The Gee’s Bend quilts are a major exhibit in many national museums. Art critics worldwide have compared the quilts to the works of important artists such as Henri Matisse and Paul Klee. The New York Times called the quilts "some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced."
The mastery and work of the Gee’s Bend quilts has been publicized by Newsweek, NPR, CBS News' "Sunday Morning," the "Martha Stewart Living" show, House and Garden and O magazine. In August 2006, the u.s. Postal Service released a sheet of 10 commemorative stamps with images of Gee's Bend quilts. The latest exhibit can be seen right now at the Flint Art Museum in Flint, Michigan.