Quilting African American Women’s History
Our Challenges, Creativity, and Champions
Extended through January 17, 2009
National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center

Black women are the prism through which the searing rays of race, class and sex are first focused, then refracted. The creative among us transform these rays into a spectrum of brilliant colors, a rainbow which illuminates the experience of all mankind.
Margaret B. Wilkerson, 1986

In the nearly four centuries since the 1619 arrival of three African women in Jamestown, Virginia, the history of African American women has often been neglected. Yet African American women have made profound contributions to American society.

Quilting African American Women’s History: Our Challenges, Creativity, and Champions at the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio, celebrates the history and influence of African American women by presenting stunning yet thought-provoking quilts. This one-of-a-kind show, curated by quilt artist, author and historian Dr. Carolyn L. Mazloomi, features 101 contemporary quilts created by some of America’s best known African American quilters.

The works in this exhibition are powerful expressions of artistic creativity layered with memories and meanings. The diversity of these quilts reflects the diversity of African Americans today. Each artist provides a uniquely compelling visual and verbal narrative; yet together, they tell the story of African American women from slavery to the present.