An American Quilt

by Rachel May

Overview

Rachel May’s rich new book explores the far reach of slavery, from New England to the Caribbean, the role it played in the growth of mercantile America, and the bonds between the agrarian south and the industrial north in the antebellum era—all through the discovery of a remarkable quilt. While studying objects in a textile collection, May opened a veritable treasure-trove: a carefully folded, unfinished quilt made of 1830sera fabrics, its backing containing fragile, aged papers with the dates 1798, 1808, and 1813, the words “shuger,” “rum,” “casks,” and “West Indies,” repeated over and over, along with “friendship,” “kindness,” “government,” and “incident.” The quilt top sent her on a journey to piece together the story of Minerva, Eliza, Jane, and Juba—the enslaved women behind the quilt—and their owner, Susan Crouch. May brilliantly stitches together the often-silenced legacy of slavery by revealing the lives of these urban enslaved women and their world. Beautifully written and richly imagined, An American Quilt is a luminous historical examination and an appreciation of a craft that provides such a tactile connection to the past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681774787
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
File size:	166 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Rachel May is the author of Quilting with a Modern Slant, a 2014 Library Journal and Amazon.com Best Book of the Year. Her writing has received multiple awards, and she's been awarded residencies at the Millay Colony and The Vermont Studio Center. She's an Assistant Professor at Northern Michigan University and lives in Marquette, Michigan.

Table of Contents

A Note from the Author ix

1 Piecing the Quilt 1

2 Eliza, Minerva, & Juba 31

3 Warf & Weft: Agriculture & Industry 55

4 Mosaic 89

5 Medicine & Its Failures 131

6 Hickory Root 169

7 The Leonids: A Sermon in Patchwork 207

8 Even There 225

9 Canufo Matanew 251

10 An Abomination 291

11 Living History 339

12 Portraits 373

Sources 403

Additional Image Credits 445

Acknowledgments 449

Editorial Reviews

May follows the footsteps of Linda Lipsett and Cuesta Benberry, who revealed a more thorough picture of the contribution the African American quilt maker. These stories need to be shared over and over again and Rachel May does so brilliantly, intelligently, and with care. The history of enslaved people—and today’s on-going racism—is not glossed over in this deeply researched and beautifully written text. An American Quilt is a major contribution to the multilayered and complex history of quilt making in America.

Roderick Kiracofe

Deeply researched and vividly written, May’s creative achievement casts new light on the often ignored contributions enslaved people made to American society.

Booklist (Starred)

In this far-reaching history, the discovery of an unfinished antebellum quilt becomes an investigation of the fragile scraps of documents used to make its backing. A meticulous and insightful account of slavery’s role in early mercantile America.

New Yorker

An American Quilt cleverly weaves together the disparate fields of material cultural, northern industrialization, mercantilism, trade and slavery. Deeply researched history, May reveals the multifaceted economic and personal relations between northern textile manufacturers and southern enslavers. Moreover, May reminds us that the handmade quilts of white antebellum slave-holding and non-slave-holding women carry unlikely histories, including those of enslaved African Americans whose labor and stories are usually unacknowledged or overlooked.

Christy Clark-Pujara

An American Quilt is a scholarly accomplishment.

Clyde Fitch Report

While acclaimed writer Rachel May was studying a textile collection, she stumbled on an unfinished quilt that took her on a journey from the Caribbean to New England and into the dark depths of slavery. May decided to piece together this history, which she unveils in this rich book. An American Quilt drives home how little we actually know about slavery—and how much history we can still uncover.

Bitch Magazine

Deeply researched and vividly written, May’s creative achievement casts new light on the often ignored contributions enslaved people made to American society.

Booklist (starred)

In this far-reaching history, the discovery of an unfinished antebellum quilt becomes an investigation of the fragile scraps of documents used to make its backing. A meticulous and insightful account of slavery’s role in early mercantile America.

The New Yorker

In this far-reaching history, the discovery of an unfinished antebellum quilt becomes an investigation of the fragile scraps of documents used to make its backing. A meticulous and insightful account of slavery’s role in early mercantile America.

New Yorker