The history of quilts is a history of love, resistance and freedom. Typically stitched from scrap cloth into elaborate designs through meticulous hand-stitching, quilt making is the act of transforming the discarded into a treasured textile. It is an art with a history of hardship, innovation and eventual freedom. In the history of the United States, quilts were the art of enslaved Black people who sourced off-cuts from their enslavers or from any fabric they could find to keep their families warm. Quilts were used as fund and awareness raisers by abolitionist Quakers and, in the Suffragette movement, quilts were used to declare the power of ‘women’s work.’ Quilts also contained political messages and stories shared by those who held them. This lecture will give a foundational history of quilt making in the US and Britain from the 19th century onwards, ending with a few contemporary artists who use quilt making to connect our present to a complicated history of racism and women’s liberation.

Image: Freedom Seekers by Precious Lovell