Dating back to the nineteenth century, Gee’s Bend quilts play an important role in the history of American quilt making. Members of the community descended from the enslaved people of the cotton plantation in Gee’s Bend, Alabama, where the women would repurpose clothes and fabric scraps to create quilts of bold, abstract designs. These patterns have been passed down through generations and are still applied today. Gee’s Bend quilting has survived over generations of oppression and provides a visual testament to family traditions.

Quilters of Gee’s Bend such as Lucy Mingo played a significant role in the civil rights movement. In 1966, their craftsmanship began reaching wider audiences through the Freedom Quilting Bee, a worker’s cooperative established to connect the Gee’s Bend and Alberta quilting communities to the greater American art world. Soon, Influential figures in the arts and fashion industries took notice, and news sources began covering on the group. Galleries, museums and department stores all sought out the quilts. Not only did they become part of the American art conversation, but the initiative brought the artists new forms of income and materials to work with, as well as empowerment of their community.

Lucy Mingo descends from one of the oldest quilt making families in Gee’s Bend and became a leading voice for her community during the civil rights movement. She was an original member of the Freedom Quilting Bee and a member of the Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective, which was formed in 2003 to highlight the history and craftsmanship of the quilts. Today, her quilts reside in museums including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Birmingham Museum of Art and the American Folk Art Museum.