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The Gee's Bend Journey: Decoding the Quilts

Gee's Bend Quilts

Students will explore the history of Gee's Bend, Alabama and the beautiful quilts made by the residents which will inspire students to create an original quilt design.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Paper
  • Recycled Foam Tray
  • Toothpick(s)

Steps

  • Step 1

    Gee's Bend is an isolated, rural African American-majority community of about 300 people as of 2024. Have students investigate the history of this area and especially about the closing of the ferry service in 1962 when Martin Luther King Jr. visited the community during the civil rights movement. The ferry closing served to isolate the community and prevented residents from registering and voting. Have students learn about the Freedom Quilting Bee, a cooperative formed by Black women in 1966 as a way to raise income for their families. Ask students to research some quilt artists, past and present, such as Aolar Carson Mosely, Mary Lee Bendolph, Estelle Witherspoon, and others.

  • Step 2

    Quilts often symbolize the connection between past and present and are a reminder of the importance of preserving history. Have students look at images of some of the beautiful Gee's Bend quilts. Most can be characterized as abstract and improvisation quilts guided by the passions of their creator. Ask students to design a quilt of their own that projects a positive message.

  • Step 3

    Students can use a variety of art techniques, from drawing geometric patterns with oil pastels or crayons to printing with paint layered on a foam tray where they etch designs or words. When their designs are complete, display the artwork and have a discussion about the messages and the symbols used.

Standards

ARTS: Analyze ways that artistic components and cultural associations influence ideas, emotions, and actions.

ARTS: Synthesize knowledge and relate it to personal experiences to create, present, and respond to art.

SS: Time, Continuity, and Change: Analyze the causes and consequences of past events and developments, and place these in the context of the institutions, values and beliefs of the period in which they took place.

Adaptations

Have students explore other artwork pertaining to the struggle for civil rights. Examples might include "Bar And Grill" (1941) by Jacob Lawrence (which depicts segregation in New Orleans), "Walking" (1958) by Charles Henry Alston (which was inspired by the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott), or "Evening Rendezvous" (1962) by Norman Lewis (which evokes the threat of attacks from white supremacist groups).

Ask students to research the story of the Underground Railroad quilt. Though there is some doubt about its true history, it is believed that quilts were displayed along the Underground Railroad routes, and that the symbols in the blocks were messages to those escaping slavery.