Resources

Bibliography of Resources on African American Quilters

• Arnett, William. The Quilts of Gee’s Bend: Masterpieces from A Lost Place. Atlanta: GA: Tinwood Books, 2002.
• Benberry, Cuesta. Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts. Louisville, KY: The Kentucky Quilt Project Inc., 1992.
• Benberry, Cuesta. Piece of My Soul: Quilts by Black Arkansans. Fayetteville, AK: University of Arkansas Press, 2000.
• Brackman, Barbara. Facts and Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery. C & T publications, 2006.
• Callahan, Nancy. The Freedom Quilting Bee. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1987.
• Cameron, Dan. Dancing at the Louvre: Faith Ringgold’s French Collection and Other Story Quilts. University of California Press, 1998.
• Cubbs, Joanne. Mary Lee Bendolph: Gee’s Bend Quilts and Beyond. Atlanta, GA: Tinwood Books, 2006.
• Ezell, Nora. My Quilts and Me: The Diary of an American Quilter. Montgomery, AL: Black Belt Press, 1999.
• Freeman, Roland. A Communion of the Spirits. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1997.
• Something to Keep You Warm: Quilts from the Mississippi Heartland. Jackson, MS: Mississippi Historical Museum, 1981.
• Fry, Gladys-Marie. Stitched from the Soul: Slave Quilts from the Ante-Bellum South. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.
• Grudin, Eva Unger. Stitching Memories: African-American Story Quilts. Williamstown, MA: Williams College Museum of Art, 1990.
• Leon, Eli. Who’d Thought It: Improvisation in African-American Quiltmaking. San Francisco: San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum, 1987.
• Heffley, Scott. Bold Improvisation: Searching for African American Quilts – The Heffley Collection. Kansas City: Kansas City Star Books, 2007
• Hicks, Kyra. Martha Ann’s Quilt for Queen Victoria. Plano, TX: Brown Books Publishing Group, 2006.
• Hicks, Kyra. This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Other Pieces Paperback. Black Threads Press, 2009.
• Hicks, Kyra. Black Threads: An African American Sourcebook. MacFarland and Company, 2002.
• Huff, Mary E. Johnson. Just How I Picture It in My Mind: Contemporary African American Quilts from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art. Montgomery, AL: River City Publishing, 2007.
• Leon, Eli. Who’d Thought It: Improvisation in African-American Quiltmaking. San Francisco: San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum, 1987.
• Lyons, Mary E. Stitching Stars: The Story Quilts of Harriet Powers. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993.
• MacDowell, Marsha. African American Quiltmaking in Michigan. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1997.
• Mazloomi, Carolyn. Spirits of the Cloth: Contemporary African American Quilts. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1998.
• Threads of Faith: Quilts from the Women of Color Quilters Network. New York: Museum of Biblical Art, 2003.
• Carolyn. Textural Rhythms: Quilting the Jazz Tradition. West Chester, OH: Paper Moon Publications, 2007.
• Quilting African American Women’s History: Our Challenges, Creativity and Champions. Ohio Historical Society. 2008
•  Journey of Hope: Quilts Inspired by President Barack Obama. Voyageur Publications. 2010.
•  And Still We Rise: Race, Culture and Visual Conversations. Schiffer Publications, 2015
• Conscience of the Human Spirit: The Life of Nelson Mandela. Michigan State University Museum, 2016.
• Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium. Schiffer Publishing, 2019.
• We Who Believe in Freedom. Paper Moon Publishing, 2019.
• Yours for Love and Country: The Life of Col. Charles Young. Paper Moon Publishing, 2019.
• Perry, Regenia A. Harriet Powers’s Bible Quilts. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1994.
• Ringgold, Faith. The French Collection: Part I. New York: being My Own Woman Press, 1992.
• We Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold. New York: Bulfinch Press, 1995.
• Thompson, Robert Farris. Accidentally on Purpose: The Aesthetic Management of Irregularities in African Textiles and African-American Quilts. Figge Art Museum, 2007.
• Tobin, Jacqueline L. and Raymond G. Dobard. Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad. New York: Doubleday, 1999.
• Turner, Patricia. Crafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African American Quilters. University Press of Mississippi, 2009.
• Wahlman, Maude Southwell. Signs and Symbols: African Images in African-American Quilts. New York: Studio Books, 1993.

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Source: Women of Color Quilters Network (wcqn.org)

African American Quilt Guilds

California

• African American Quilt Guild of Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)
• African American Quilt Guild of Oakland (Oakland, CA) 
• San Diego People of Color Quilt Guild ( San Diego, CA) 

Colorado

• Rocky Mountain Wa Shonaji Quilt Guild (Denver, CO)

Georgia

• Brown Sugar Stitchers Quilt Guild (Atlanta, GA) 
• Ebony Stitchers (Decatur, GA)

Illinois

• Needles & Threads Quilters Guild ( Chicago, IL) 

Indiana

• Sisters of the Cloth Quilting Guild (Fort Wayne, IN)

Maryland

• African American Quilters of Baltimore (Baltimore, MD) 
• Uhuru Quilters Guild (Clinton, MD)

Massachusetts

• ​Sisters in Stitches Joined by the Cloth (Arlington, MA) 
  

Michigan

• Flint Afro-American Quilters Guild  (Flint, MI)
• Great Lakes African American Quilters Network (Livonia, MI)  
• Needle Rules! Society of Detroit, MI (Detroit, MI)

​Mississippi 

• Mississippi Cultural Crossroads 
• Tutwiler Quilters (Tutwiler, MS) 
• Tutwiler Community Education Center (Use to contact Quilt guild)

New Jersey

• African American Ebony Quilters of South Jersey
• Nubian Heritage Quilters Guild (Montclair, NJ)
• Princeton Sankofa Stitchers Modern Quilt Guild (Princeton, NJ)

New York

• Ebony Quilters of Southeast Queens, NY (Queens, NY)
• Quilters of Color Network of New York (New York, NY). 
• Quilt-N-Queens (Jamaica, NY) 

North Carolina

• The African American Quilt Circle of Durham (Durham, NC)
• African American Quilt Guild (Gaston, NC)

Ohio

• African American Quilt and Doll Guild (Warrensville Heights, OH) 
• Stitches From the Soul-Sistahs (Toledo, OH)

Pennsylvania

• Quilters of the Round Table (Philadelphia, PA) 

Tennessee 

• Zuri Quilters Guild (Nashville, TN)

Texas

• Quilting Sisters of Color   (Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)  ​

Washington

• Pacific Northwest African American Quilters (Tacoma, WA) 

If you would like your guild listed here or have updated contact information on any of the guilds listed, please contact us.