LITR 5731: Seminar in
American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake,
fall 2001
Student Research Project
Rachel Boyle
LITR 5731 / CCRL 5931: Seminar in American Minority Literature
UHCL, fall 2001
Introduction
Quilts: a secret language, metaphorical meaning and oppression.
A journal by Rachel Boyle
My Story:
When I was eight years old, the hairnet-and-sandwich ladies trusted me with
the biggest needle in the whole wide world. With it, I chose which colors
of yarn we used on each quilt. Using the needle and yarn, my job was to tie the
fabric backing (through the cotton batting) to the quilt top. I was also
in charge of tying the knots. Oh, it was so hard to pull them tightly! The
ladies would come around and check my work, maybe tighten a few. They told
me that my job was very important and our work was meant to last a long time.
The ladies told my mom that I was a natural-born quilter. "Perhaps
she'll be another great seamstress just like her mother", they'd say.
The ladies made pink frosted cakes, Kool-Aid and Norwegian cookies too; that's
how I remember my summer vacation. Me, my mom and the hairnet-and-sandwich
ladies worked day and night in a church basement, sewing charity quilts bound
for Africa.
The "nine-patch" and "crazy quilt" are the patterns of my
memories. Each quilting method represents a way of understanding my own
world-view. Sometimes I like to map out social issues or academic concerns
in an orderly fashion; like a "nine-patch" quilt. Other times,
the world makes more sense to me as a collage, or "crazy quilt".
Embedded within the collage or "crazy quilt" style, information and
understanding come to us through an experience of fragmentation. My goal in this
project is not to inundate the reader with complete explanations. Therefore, it
doesn't read like a traditional academic paper. In this spirit of the
'crazy quilt' or 'collage' style, my project mirrors this pattern in order to
introduce the reader to quilt-related cultural, historical and larger
theoretical questions. As a result, I hope to spark interest and excitement
through a variety or 'sampling' of quilt-related topics.
The central theme that weaves this project together is the relationship between
quilts and oppression. I have prepared a series of short, informal essays. My
topics are as follows: "Quilts as language", "(more) Code
language", "Quilt as metaphor" and "Quilts and community
relationships". Additionally, I included images that I felt were
complimentary to the text, or triggered an emotional response. (Unfortunately,
Internet readers will not be able to see the images.) Each essay introduces the
reader to cultural or historical information followed by my own informal and
sometimes personal response. Often times, my response leads to a larger
theoretical concern or a more obvious question.
Learning to how to make a basic quilt or other home-arts such as canning,
knitting, gardening and embroidery, ("old-fashion" as these processes
may seem), certainly shaped my values and character. When these symbols appear
in literature or academic reading, I immediately recognize them. For example, a
quilt-as-icon triggers fond memories and meanings within my context of
understanding. I want my academic work to emphasize the importance of
women as they are represented in a larger social context. Often times,
women's roles and contributions have been forgotten. Here is a project
that brings women, particularly African-American women, to the forefront of
historical and cultural importance.
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Stitched From The Soul: Slave-Quilts from
the Ante-Bellum South
By: Gladys Marie Fry Ph.D.
Concern #1-The problem with researching and verifying traditional oral cultures.
The way I'd like to approach the two academic books for my journal installments
is to first, summarize and the information that surprised me or caught me off
guard, then react to it. In this installment I would like to talk about the
challenges the author faced with authentication and verification of slave
women's quilting history.
1st problem: Few written accounts of slave women.
The author searched travel accounts, plantation records, autobiographies and
memoirs, only to discover that written accounts of slave women's daily lives are
largely unavailable. The lives of slave women were considered to be less
important compared to men's, as "women's work was of little interest to
men's written accounts" of plantation life. (p. 4)
2nd problem: Bias.
The dominant culture believes that slave women's quilting techniques were of
an inferior quality. Take note of this excerpt from a letter written to the
author from the Southern historical society. "Quilts made by slave labor in
the South were a sorry affair, both as to the pattern devised and the
workmanship thereof. Some few slaves were educated well enough to sewBut all
the clothing on the plantation-for white and black-was made by the wife of the
plantation owner, working night and day. Quilts made in that period of
time were made with cotton batting, which, when washed (in a black pot with lye
soap), lumped up, faded, and was ruined. They were usually filthy."
(p. 8)
Solution:
Finding and proving a provenance, which can be traced back directly to the
slave maker through her/his descendants is a nearly impossible task.
Unfortunately, few slave quilt makers are known. Many museums' provenances
for the quilts usually state made by an "unknown slave girl" or
"old negress" or simply "slave quilt". When a
quilt-maker is known, or the quilt's donor is still alive, the author was able
to verify some information with the help of these remaining family descendants.
However, many accounts of the importance of quilting during slavery were
obtained through the W.P.A. writings.
An epistemological problem:
Racism and gender bias has skewed the availability of historical data.
Rather than going into the many ways African-American women's (and women's in
general) contributions have been shortchanged in historical accounts, it is
sufficient to simply acknowledge this fact. Women (especially African-American
women) have historically been marginalized and rendered invisible in historical
discourse.
The racial biases in this example from a recent Southern Historical Society's
letter is particularly telling of the subtle ways racism renders
African-American women invisible regarding the importance, craftsmanship and
survivability of slave quilts. The author's discovery of the dominant
culture's racial bias in determining provenance for quilts can be summed up as
"well made" or beautiful quilts are assumed to be made by white women
and quilts displaying shoddy workmanship or irregular designs are assumed to
have been made by slaves.
This racist sentiment assumes that slave women didn't have an eye for design and
color. This is simply not true. There has been a lot of work in
academia proving that European quilting techniques and African quilting
techniques have blended together to make a unique, American quilting style.
(assimilation/resistance) A side note: men in Africa have traditionally
been the ones who make quilts and fabrics for their communities. The vibrant
colors and designs were necessary so that people could recognize tribal members
at long distances. Each tribe had a unique, distinct pattern and form. It
was only under the patriarchal oppression of slavery where women were assigned
to quilting duties- although a few men continued to do so. Even today,
quilting techniques and patterns from various cultures influence each other.
For comparative purposes, another racial and gender bias can be found within the
issue of provenance in Mary Prince's biography (from The Classic Slave
narratives). Mary Prince, a former slave, gave an oral account of her life
experiences to a white female editor who published her account as part of the
anti-slavery movement. At that time, a writ of character (or provenance)
was necessary to authenticate and verify Mary's account. I pointed this out
during class discussion, as I found it striking how the "proof" had to
come from a white male. Was Mary's story unbelievable or shocking to her
audience? Why wasn't her editor's credibility enough to authenticate her
story? Why was there a need to authenticate at all? Given the context of
the historical time period, women's voices were rarely affirmed or acknowledged
as being important. Even in legal disputes men had to speak in court on behalf
of women's interests over issues such as property ownership.
We have a similar concern over provenance emerging in modern times. Particularly
in the realm of art objects, "proof" is viewed to be more credible by
the dominant culture when it is in a written form, rather than claims being
delivered in a verbal, or a "story-telling mode". This reminds me of
the controversy that Jewish Holocaust survivors face as they try to reclaim
works of art that were seized from their families during encampment. Like
the quilts, the problem in these legal cases is that it is nearly impossible to
prove a provenance. In the historical moments of slavery or the holocaust,
most written accounts or information has been destroyed or deliberately
oppressed.
Literature, history and anthropology are a few of the academic disciplines
that tend to be more receptive to verbally based knowledge. However, we know
that oral stories can be problematic. We saw this in Black Elk Speaks,
and The Classic Slave Narratives, both works of non-fiction, occur
because the minority speaker gives their story to a member of the dominant
culture (typically a white male), this in turn, gives the minority's voice
"authenticity". On the other hand, an outsider's voice can be
problematic because the recorder might subjectively edit out or add in
information that is or is not deemed relevant. Another problem we discussed
during class occurs when a story is written down, it freezes the cultural
moment. Meanwhile, when stories are told and retold over and over again,
they are likely to change. Oral cultures are "alive" and constantly
changing or adapting. Written stories are static. That's why this is a challenge
for researchers to accept the oral explanations, stories, symbols and meanings
of slave quilts. Researchers must rely upon a slave family's descendants
for information and historical accounts. Simultaneously, researchers are also
dealing with information that may have been edited out because of racism or
bias. These concerns become magnified in another academic book entitled
Hidden in Plain View. In this book, the quilt codes of the Underground
Railroad are revealed in a single, oral account from a descendent of a slave:
Ozella McDaniel Williams. The quilt codes were a significant discovery in
the discourse of slave history. The information was also controversial because
the information came from one source (Ozella) and was received (by the
researcher) in the form of an oral story.
Cited:
Fry, Gladys-Marie. Stitched from the Soul: Slave Quilts from the Ante-Bellum
South. Dutton Studio Books, 1990. New York.
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Stitched From the Soul-Quilts from the
Ante-Bellum South
By: Gladys Marie Fry, Ph.D.
Concern #2 Quilting bees-Finding community in the face of oppression.
In this installment, I would like to briefly introduce how quilting bees were
important in slave life.
"Two powerful forces helped to establish quiltings as an important part of
African-American plantation life: the need for a social outlet, and the need for
warm bed coverings. Quilting parties were usually elaborate affairs in which
each phase of the events were orchestrated, and more impromptu scaled down
affairs that rotated nightly from cabin to cabin. Elaborate parties usually
occurred on special occasions such as Christmas and at the end of the harvest
season. Masters of large plantations would even stage large quilting
parties to impress their neighbors." (p. 71)
Both men and women participated in the quilting bees. These were generally
regarded as happy times according the WPA writings. At the bees, gossip
would be exchanged and courtship arranged. After the quilting was over,
there would be a huge celebration. They would sing, dance, play games and enjoy
a variety of delightful southern foods.
I am including this section in my journal because I never would have imagined
that there could be any joy or hope in slave's life. This concept really
puzzled me. After thinking for some time about it, I realized that under the
most extremely oppressive situations (such as slavery), the human spirit will
find some way to prevail. There are many examples in American history where
'hope' has been the driving force of social change.
In order to understand how 'hope' can survive in the context of slavery,
we have to think about the structure of violence within the institution of
slavery. In other words, how is violence in this cultural context organized and
utilized? Slaves came from a tribal society where notions of the
"collective" are emphasized over the "individual". Slavery
forced them into a society where the individual is viewed as being more
important. However, slaves weren't allowed to assert their individuality.
The structure of plantation life reasserted the need for collectivity.
Master's feared slave's individuality because they would likely rebel or escape.
Also, the nature of the plantation work required everyone to work together. The
quilting bee is a symbol and reaffirmation of 'hope'; the desire for collective
survival. The symbol of a quilting bee also reminds me of Amish community
activities such as 'barn raisings' or collective harvests and fellowship dinners
together.
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Hidden in Plain View
By: Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard, Ph.D.
Concern #1- Introductions and the controversy of quilt codes in the Underground
Railroad
This installment is an addendum to a previous essay, "The problem with
researching and verifying traditionally oral cultures". It also
introduces the theme: "secret quilt codes".
From the book:
"All of the Underground Railroad signals-to-slaves stories were orally
transmitted and lacked corroboration in written documentation, it was presumed
the stories lacked credibility. In his book Slave Testimony, noted historian
John Blassingame challenged the practice of scholars who rejected any truth of
the black slave's stories because they were oral testimonies. He stated,
"Because of his traditional fascination with the written word, the American
historian when confronted with oral lorehas no methodological tools applicable
to them." (p. 2)
The author argues why it is valid:
It is important to remember that it was illegal to teach slaves how to read and
write. (ibid) Further, slaves came from different tribes, different regions,
spoke different languages and had different customs. (ibid) However, the
majority of them were unified in the heritage of an oral tradition where one
person would be the griot, or storyteller, who committed to memory the entire
history of the tribe, then recited orally. (ibid)
Secret language:
"An astonishing example of the survival of the African oral tradition
within the contemporary African American community is the Underground Railroad
Quilt Code. Handed down orally, generation to generation since the antebellum
days, the Underground Railroad Quilt Code was recently revealed by recitation to
Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard, Ph.D., by Ozella McDaniel Williams of
Charleston, South Carolina. The Quilt Code is a mystery-laden, secret
communication system of employing quiltmaking terminology as a message map for
black slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad." (p. 3)
In addition to challenges a researcher faces in documenting and verifying oral
cultures or verbal knowledge, is the then difficult to convince other scholars
that what you discovered in an oral story is valid knowledge. As I
mentioned earlier, the dominant culture tends to favor discourses that occur in
written form.
Again, we have arrived at the same epistemological concern once again. What do
we do when the critical tools (such as a historical text) do not include African
American women's voices? I believe that we must look for clues or
fragments of meaning in alternative media such as the quilts, drawings, songs or
superstitions. Granted, this task is somewhat of an experimental one and
our conclusions must be rooted in the overall discourse that has come before us.
The risk comes as we often must employ other sensory abilities coupled with
deeply intense 'detective' work in order to hear the hidden voices or understand
forgotten meanings. I believe the rewards outweigh the risks.
Cited:
Dobard, Raymond G. and Jacequline Tobin. Hidden in Plain View.
Doubleday. 1999 New York.
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Code Words-Code Phrases in Spirituals
Example #1
When the sun come back,
When the firs' quail call,
Then the time is come
Foller the drinkin' gou'd
Chorus
Foller the drinkin' gou'd,
Foller the drinkin' gou'd;
For the ole man say,
"Foller the drinkin' gou'd."
The riva's ban am a very good road
The dead trees show the way.
Lef' foot, peg foot goin' on
Foller the drinkin' gou'd.
The riva ends a-tween two hills,
Foller the drinkin' gou'd:
'Nuther riva on the other side
Follers the drinkin' gou'd.
Wha the little riva
Meet the grea' big un,
The ole man waits-
Foller the drinkin' gou'd
p. 121-122
Hidden in Plain View
The song is based upon the story of a one-legged sailor "Peg Leg
Joe" who used to visit the Mobile Alabama area (p. 122). Peg Leg would
teach this song to slaves and then in the spring many of the men who learned the
song to would disappear from the plantations (ibid). It is believed that
this song represents the area around north of Mobile where the trail follows
northward to the headwaters of the Tombigbee River, through a divide, and down
the Tennesse Rive to the Ohio River (ibid). The trail would be marked by
the outline of a left foot and a round spot in place of the right foot (ibid).
Code words:
drinkin' gou'd = Big Dipper
Ole man = Peg Leg Joe
Example #2
Chorus
Steal away, steal away,
Steal away to Jesus.
Steal away, steal away,
I ain't got long to stay here.
My Lord calls me, He calls me by the thunder
Green trees are bending, poor sinner stands a trembling
Tombstones are bursting, poor sinner stands a tremblin
My Lord calls me, He calls me by the lightning
The trumpet sounds within a my soul,
I ain't got long to stay here.
p. 138
Hidden in Plain View
"An old Southern admonition states that you must sit still and be
silent because God is speaking to you through the thunder" (p. 138-139).
Code words:
Green trees bending = spring
Trumpets sound = courage to run to freedom
Lord calls me by thunder = escape in the rain to wash your tracks and confuse
the dogs
It has been well documented that spirituals and songs were used as coded
instructions in the Underground Railroad. Even Frederick Douglas has recorded
some of them. The point here is to show how the words have double meanings
in order to mask escape intentions from plantation masters.
It is important to include this section in
the quilt journal because it adds depth and credibility to the context of quilt
codes. It reveals the secret language necessary for survival goes beyond
the written word. The expansive network of subversion includes song,
rhythm, quilts and folklore.
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These code words and phrases are a part of
Beavton Middle school's ongoing Underground Railroad project
Code Words and Phrases
Baggage: Escaping slaves
Bundles of wood: Fugitives to be expected
Canaan - Canada
Drinking gourd - Big Dipper and the North star
Forwarding: Taking fugitive slaves from station to station
Freedom Train: The Underground Railroad
Gospel Train: The Underground Railroad
Heaven or Promised land - Canada
Load of Potatoes: Escaping slaves hidden under the farm produce in a wagon
Moses: Harriet Tubman
Parcel: Fugitives to be expected
Preachers - leaders, speakers underground railroad
River Jordan: The Mississippi
Shepherds - people escorting slaves
Station - place of safety and temporary refuge, safe-house
Station Master - keeper of safe-house
Stockholder - donor of money, clothing, or food to the Underground Railroad
Code Phrases
"The wind blows from the South today": A warning to Underground
Railroad workers that fugitive slaves were in the area.
"When the sun comes back and the first quail calls": A particular time
of year good for escaping (early spring)
"The river bank makes a mighty good road": A reminder that the
tracking dogs can't follow the scent through the water.
"The dead trees will show you the way": A reminder that moss grows on
the NORTH side of dead trees (just in case the stars aren't visible)
"Left foot, peg foot": A visual clue for escapees left by an
Underground Railroad worker famous because of his wooden leg.
"The river ends between two hills": A clue for the directions to the
Ohio River
"A friend with friends" - A password used to signal arrival of
fugitives with Underground Railroad conductor
"The friend of a friend sent me" - a password used by fugitives
traveling alone to indicate they were sent by the Underground Railroad
network
"Steal away, steal away, steal away to
Jesus" (words to a song) - used to alert other slaves that an escape
attempt was coming up
Underground Railroad words and phrases taken from:
http://198.22.19.15/footsteps/sub/Week3/codelist.html and
http://www.beavton.k12.or.us/Greenway/leahy/ugrr/code.htm
Greenwood, Barbara. The Last Safe House. Buffalo, NY: Kids Can Press, 1998
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Alice Walker's
Everyday Use
Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"
reminds me that quilts can be both utilitarian and a memento of one's family
history. In the story, the quilt serves as a metaphor for
African American family histories. Here is a summary of "Everyday
Use":
_______________________________________________________________________
Mama and her youngest daughter, Maggie, welcome Dee (Wangero) home after a
lengthy time away. Dee is Maggie's older sister and Mamma's daughter.
Dee's character can be summed up as "the one who left". Dee
sought out an education and broke free from her former life in a small, southern
town-broke free from oppressive life of abject poverty. Her mother and Maggie
are the ones Dee left behind. They are hard working, make-do, plain-speaking,
feet-on-the-ground type folks.
Dee returns home with a new life, a new identity and an African name:
Wangero. She has always had an air of sophistication and now she is on a
spiritual journey to "discover herself". Dee found one
connection that celebrates her African heritage. But, she isn't totally
abandoning her past either. She comes home to visit in order to reconnect
with her 'humble beginnings'. Now that she has distanced herself (physically and
emotionally), she is able to remember her childhood with a bit of nostalgia and
appreciation.
Dee wants mamma and Maggie to give her two old quilts her grandmother worked on
(among other things) so she can display them in her new home. When mamma
says she has been saving those for Maggie's wedding, Dee is outraged.
Dee: "Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!" she said,
"She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use."
Mamma: "I reckon she would. God knows I been savin' em for long
enough with nobody using 'em. I hope she will!"
Dee: "But they are priceless! Maggie would put them on the bed and
in five years they'd be in rags. Less than that!"
Mamma: "She can always make some more. Maggie knows how to
quilt."
(Mamma wouldn't let Dee take the quilts, gave them to Maggie)
Dee: "You just don't understand your heritage."
________________________________________________________________________
Have you ever had an experience like this? -A negotiation between the ideal and
the real? Have you ever known people like Dee, Mamma or Maggie?
I can relate to this story because it mirrors my life in a way. I see
myself as straddling between two lives. One half of my life is the present
tense. The present tense is an urban existence, surrounded by cultural
events, academia, always striving to obtain upper class dreams. The other
half of my life exists in the rural, past tense. Growing up in rural Iowa, life
was normalized as a 'tough existence'. Rural Iowa is a place where my
peers experienced the full scale of life early on; friends die young, marry
young or work out their lives in physically demanding, low wage environments. At
my parent's home, life is about survival and make-do.
However, as I straddle both worlds, I tend to see my past with a tint of
nostalgia (like Dee). Along with the harshness, I recognize beauty and joy
in a rural life; farming is a noble profession and has its own rewards. I
appreciate the sacrifices of others before me. With this said, I can identify
with Dee in this story. We have both chosen to leave; yet neither of us has
totally abandoned our pasts. We both know where we come from and where we are
going. On the other hand, Dee and I differ through the metaphor of a quilt.
I view my self-identity as one that builds upon events in the past. Meanwhile,
Dee seems to separate herself. She puts a period, so-to-speak, at the end of her
childhood, and goes forward from this point. Her feelings are reflected in
her words to Maggie, "It's a new day for us". Her words imply a break
in the cycle of "old ways/old thoughts" which she sees as being
ingrained within her family's worldview.
For Dee, the quilt represents an object-of-memory. Dee wants to preserve it
exactly the way it is by hanging it on the wall for display. She wouldn't dream
of using it or stitching upon it. Its perfection represents family history as
linear, and the quilt marks a particular moment in time. But that moment
is in the past. It should remain unchanged, unaltered. To mamma and
Maggie, the quilt represents a living heritage. Mamma and Maggie will just
layer or patching it up if it becomes worn. In other words, they will keep using
it, add to it and it will live on, just as they will carry on their family
traditions. Mamma and Maggie live within their family history every day, while
Dee will relish it as artifact.
In African-American literature, the re-unification of the family is a very
important theme. (We have talked about it in class.) This might be
due to the internalization of the slavery experience, where the traditional
family unit was disallowed, disrupted and fragmented.
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Quilts as activism
Quilts have become a popular and treasured gift today. Frequently, they are
given as gifts that mark important rites of passage. When I think of these
types of quilts, I think of celebrations such as birthdays, weddings and
anniversaries. However, what do we do with quilts that memorialize someone
in death? What about the combination of death and activism in quilt
making? Can a quilt capture public attention towards awareness or injustice?
If you put the terms "quilts" and "activism/activist" into
an Internet search engine, you will find only fragments of information. A
show, a tribute, a book- there aren't many websites dedicated to this subject.
However, activists have a long history of making quilts that display their
concerns. In the past, scholars have uncovered the use of quilts during
the temperance movement, the abolitionist movement and suffrage movement.
Today, quilts carry a full range of messages, from women's rights, to the
environment, to civil rights. However, I would like to introduce you to one
major website dedicated to quilting and activism: The Aids Memorial Quilt
website.
The international website -http://www.aidsquilt.org (The Aids Memorial
Quilt)
Houston Chapter- http://www.namesproject.org (NAMES PROJECT)
Today, as I write for this journal, it is World Aids Day (December 1, 2001).
The date always reminds me of the time I saw a portion of The Quilt in 1998 at
Rice University. This is an experience that I will never forget. I know
people who live with HIV, so this topic is dear to my heart. One friend of
mine suffers in silence as he cannot tell his family 1) that he is gay and 2)
that he is HIV positive, otherwise they will disown him. Unfortunately,
these heart-breaking stories are all too common.
The Quilt gives family or friends a way to memorialize, heal and teach about the
devastating effects of AIDS. According to The Quilt website, The Quilt was
nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and is the largest community art
project in the world. (*wow* - 50 miles of fabric!)
Sometimes words can't express the deeply held emotions we face when we lose
someone who we love. The Quilt, as a creative outlet for grief, allows the
maker(s) to design each panel that represents or celebrate the deceased person's
life. Within each panel might be hidden meanings or codes (clues) about
that person's life. As when a person interacts with a work of art, the
visual component provides the viewer with a vehicle for introspective
reflection. It is like an exchange. You bring your own experiences to The
Quilt and you might see something in a panel that really speaks to your heart,
or reminds you of someone you have lost in other circumstances. In
particular, grief is an emotion that is best expressed as metaphor or image.
The Quilt started in the San Francisco gay community in 1987. Although The Quilt
is not a vehicle for gay rights, it shows that AIDS is a disease that unifies
and equalizes all persons. In this context, the quilt serves as a metaphor
for equality. Whether you are famous, wealthy, poor or marginalized, each
panel is a standard size, no more and no less than 3' x 6'.
Further, quilting has historically been a community or family activity, serving
many purposes such as charity, community building and courting. Quilting
bees often took place in churches, on slave plantations or private residences as
well serving a particular community's need such as an organizing tool for social
movements (temperance or abolition). However, persons in the gay community
frequently have broken or strained ties with their own families and communities.
In response, many gays and lesbians seek out and create 'alternative' families,
which often comprise of a large circle of friends and family members who are
tolerant of their lifestyle. Therefore, it is interesting to see how the
gay community has adopted this traditional art form to be used as a vehicle for
outreach and/or collective and individual healing. Further, I am interested in
how the gay community often duplicates heterosexual social structures and
rituals such as the commitment ceremony, but alters them to fit their realities.
In fact, I have a future project in mind to study the role that gay churches
play in community building, charity and fellowship. The concepts of assimilation
and resistance could be applied to in these contexts.
The act of sewing together panels made by a diverse population (gay with
straight, black with white, etc) symbolically enjoins the international
community together in the spirit of hope. Perhaps we can all unite (if
just for a moment) to fight for a common cause despite our differences. Then
there may be room for more tolerance and coalition building in the future.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Attendance at The Quintessential Quilt
Show
Houston, Texas
November 3, 2001
Unfortunately, I do not quilt. I don't even have a sewing machine.
However, I truly have a deep appreciation for quilts and quilting techniques.
So, for the second year in a row, I went to the International Quilt Festival.
There's really something here for everyone's tastes and interests at the show.
The show is extremely well attended. If you can tolerate hours of weaving
through crowds, I promise that you will be rewarded. This year's attendance was
particularly relevant to my project because there was a special travelling
exhibit called "Roots of racism: Ignorance and Fear", curated by Susan
Leslie Lumsden. This was a collection of 54 quilts from the US and Germany
created around the theme of "combating racism". The designs were
predominantly modern or conceptual- i.e. like modern paintings. Other
quilts were more literal, like a photograph or drawing. In-between were
others that utilized collage techniques and experimental forms. Many of
the "picture" type quilts featured beautiful scenes of brotherhood or
sisterhood, peace and celebrating diversity. The non-conventional style quilts
were more confrontational and included name-calling or featured specific types
of violence. I preferred the quilts that utilize a collage technique because
when a person experiences racism or intolerance it is often internalized in a
fragmentary way.
As a quilt is traditionally made from recycled, unwanted 'scraps' of material.
This technique mirrors how racist sentiments or actions play out in individuals'
lives. Anger, hatred and intolerance might come out in a fragmentary way-
in a short burst through verbal abuse or explosive through physical violence or
in subtle, prolonged racial exclusions and preferences. These moments are
like discarded scraps of anger and fear from a society that is unjust,
stratified, categorized and divided. Therefore, a quilt is the perfect
medium to express one's pain. Each scrap of anger is picked up and sewn
into a quilt; the fabric of racism weighs heavily upon the marginalized 'self'.
Rooting out exclusions, intolerance and
racism is an on-going concern for my academic work. In addition to obvious
ways that racism effects the daily lives of minorities, I am also interested in
the subtle "underground" ways exclusions and biases contribute to
overall social trends, discrimination and violence. The cultural meters I use
are the media, popular culture, urban signs, designs and advertising.
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Conclusion:
What have I learned?
My topic began as an investigation into the "rumors" I had heard
about a secret, 'coded' language in quilt patterns. Much of this topic is
still currently under investigation. However, the academic works of Fry,
Tobin, Dobard and others has yielded very exciting insight. Perhaps
the 'code' meant different things on different plantations? Regardless, I
absolutely believe there was a secret language embedded in slave quilt images.
The evidence surrounding other types of secret methods of communication can be
traced back to origins in African cultures lends credibility to this
possibility. Additionally, we must listen carefully to the oral stories
given to us by elders. Ozella gave us a valuable gift and we should take
it seriously.
In general, a study of 'the quilt' and 'the quilting bee' reveals the
complexities of slaves' lives. Slaves were in a constant state of cautious
negotiations between assimilation and resistance in order to subvert, escape and
in turn survive. Despite slavery's systemic oppression, African
culture (magic, meaning and language) and the emphasis on the collective
community kept hope alive.
It has been an interesting journey, passing through past quilt meanings into the
present-day utilization of quilts. In fact, we discover some similar
themes and motivations for quilt making in addition to new messages, occurring
within unexpected communities. As we have seen in the "Racism and
Ignorance" project, the message of peace, hope and the task of confronting
intolerance is being carried within the fabric of these quilts. Similarly,
the AIDS Quilt represents 'tribute' to those who have died as well as a message
and call to activism.
Peppered throughout my project, within Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"
and in the piece called "My Story" (about me), I employ creative
writing techniques in order to play with, expand and explore the concept of
"Quilt-as-Metaphor". The terms and language associated with
sewing are prefect image-makers for poems or prose writing. I have written
several poems using these concepts.
Beyond this project-
As an anthropologist, I must know how to conduct a "deep
ethnography" (Clifford Geertz's term) in order to understand cultural
contexts. I must also learn how to find alternative ways of seeking information
or 'clues' when written documentation is lacking or missing entirely. How
do you reconstruct a culture? What reasons contribute to the blatant omission of
information? An anthropologist looks at economic, political, historical,
geographical contexts of 'a culture' through the use of stories, songs, images
interviews and objects (and much more!). In other words, Geertz calls us
to look deeply and widely at any given culture and to find answers to the
following questions: 1) how is the community influenced and 2) how does the
community influences others?
I see this project as the first tentative
steps towards learning and practicing 'deep ethnography'.
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