The Quilts of Gee's Bend

by Susan Goldman Rubin

Overview

Since the early nineteenth century, the women of Gee’s Bend in southern Alabama have created stunning, vibrant quilts. In the only photo-essay book about the quilts of Gee’s Bend for children, award-winning author Susan Goldman Rubin explores the history and culture of this fascinating group of women and their unique quilting traditions. Rubin uses meticulous research to offer an exclusive look at an important facet of African American art and culture.

In the rural community of Gee’s Bend, African American women have been making quilts for generations. They use scraps of old overalls, aprons, and bleached cornmeal sacks—anything they can find. Their traditions have been passed down through the decades. Much to the women’s surprise, a selection of the quilts was featured in an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 2002. The exhibition then traveled to the Whitney Museum in New York City. “Eye-poppingly gorgeous,” wrote a critic for the New York Times about the exhibition. He continued, “Some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art will exhibit its newly acquired collection of Gee’s Bend quilts in 2017.

Rubin is known for producing well-researched, highly praised, and sophisticated biographies of artists and other important figures. Through similar research, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend shares specifics about this rare community and its rich traditions, allowing children to pause to consider history through the eyes of the people who lived it and through a legacy that is passed on to the next generation.

This book should be of great interest to classrooms, libraries, and those interested in African American art in the United States, in addition to quilting, life in early emancipated colonies in the South, and Gee’s Bends importance in the Civil Right’s movement. The quilts and the incredible stories behind them are powerful motivators for anyone who wishes to accomplish anything. A map, directions on how to make a quilt square, endnotes, and an index round out this stunning nonfiction book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419721311
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	06/13/2017
Pages:	56
Sales rank:	222,852
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	970L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Susan Goldman Rubin is the author of many biographies for young people, including Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People and Hot Pink: The Life and Fashions of Elsa Schiaparelli. She lives in Malibu, California.

Editorial Reviews

04/17/2017
Rubin (Hot Pink: The Life and Fashions of Elsa Schiaparelli) tells the story of a folk art form passed down through generations in a small corner of the Deep South. Descended from the enslaved and, later, tenant farmers, the women quilters of Gee’s Bend, Ala., create unique variations of traditional patterns. Their vibrant handiwork sits in stark contrast to archival photographs of the quilters’ hardscrabble surroundings. The women’s expressions are proud, their settings meager—a 1937 photograph shows a room wallpapered in newsprint to keep out drafts. Rubin traces the quilters’ history alongside their struggle for civil rights and a steadily improving quality of life. When the women’s art is “discovered” by outsiders and becomes sought after, the results weren’t always welcome. Numerous quotations allow the women to tell their story: “A lot of people make quilts for your bed,” says Mensie Lee Pettway. “But a quilt is more. It represents safekeeping, it represents beauty, and you could say it represents family history.” An epilogue, source notes, bibliography, index, and brief quilting how-to wrap up a celebration of fellowship and ingenuity. Ages 8–12. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Lush photographs of people and places accompany the text; especially beautiful are the many pictures
of quilts, ranging from the modest and plain to the boldly colorful."

The Horn Book

"...the vibrant quilts and their proud creators are beautifully photographed, and the text is free of any trace of condescension that often accompanies discussion of folk art."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Writing with awareness of broad social forces as they affected the residents of Gee’s Bend, Rubin offers a concise account of local history while seamlessly weaving quilters’ reminiscences of family, community, poverty, and memorable events into an informative narrative. . . A colorful introduction to a uniquely American subject."

Booklist

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Writing with awareness of broad social forces as they affected the residents of Gee’s Bend, Rubin offers a concise account of local history while seamlessly weaving quilters’ reminiscences of family, community, poverty, and memorable events into an informative narrative. . . A colorful introduction to a uniquely American subject."

Booklist

★ 04/01/2017
Gr 6 Up—A quilt "represents safekeeping, it represents beauty, and you could say it represents family history." In this handsomely designed volume, Rubin shares the history of the Gee's Bend families, who, for more than 100 years, have been designing and creating bold and brilliant quilts. From 1845, when plantation owner Mark Pettway and his household settled in Alabama, to the present, African American women in this rural village have been piecing together scraps of fabric salvaged from old clothes, flour sacks, or corduroy pillow covers, while their daughters, nieces, and granddaughters have watched and learned. Through the years, as they endured and eventually rose above abject poverty, back-breaking work, and inequality, the women continually found community in picking up their needles to help one another sew quilts to keep their families warm. As they witnessed tumultuous moments in history, from the Civil War and the Great Depression to the civil rights movement, the quilters were eventually recognized for their artistry by the outside world. Rubin captures the voices of the inhabitants of Gee's Bend, weaving quotes and memories of current residents throughout the engaging narrative. Vibrant photos of the most striking quilts and archival images complement the text. In the spirit of passing on the tradition, simple instructions for making a quilt square appear at the end of the book. VERDICT Combining history, memoir, and quilting, this fascinating portrait of an indomitable community will appeal to readers, artists, and crafters of all ages.—Linda L. Walkins, Saint Joseph Preparatory High School, Boston

School Library Journal

★ 2017-03-06
How homemade quilts created in rural Alabama became modern art. Descended from enslaved African-Americans on the Pettway Plantation, the women of Gee's Bend, Alabama, have been making quilts for generations. Taught by grandmothers, mothers, and aunts, these women have made quilts from cotton and corduroy and even old men's trousers, using bold colors and a variety of patterns. For the poor tenant farmers of Gee's Bend, the quilts were functional, "something to cover up with" to keep warm in cold cabins and hung out on fences and clotheslines once a year to "air out." Rubin effectively demonstrates the important role of collectors Bill and Matt Arnett in "discovering" the quilts and seeing them as visual art, "some of the best art in the country." Soon, thanks to their efforts, the quilts were being shown in museums all over the United States and included in the collection of the Modern Museum of Art in New York City. Full-color photographs beautifully present the quilts, while numerous other color and black-and-white photographs portray the history of Gee's Bend and its now-famous quilters. A thread of history runs through the narrative, too, weaving in slavery, the New Deal, and the civil rights movement. A section on "Making a Quilt Square" makes quilting accessible to young artists. A handsome volume to enchant a new generation of readers and artists. (source notes, bibliography, acknowledgments, image credits) (Nonfiction. 8-14)

Kirkus Reviews

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