African American Strip Quilts and Their West African Textile Roots: The Case of Quilting in the African American Quilters Guild of Oakland

• In Event: Black Folk, Black Art, and Social Movements

Abstract

This paper examines African American quilters and their handcrafted bedcovers in the form of strip quilts. It will argue that some quilts produced by African American women in the African American Quilters Guild of Oakland share an “anatomical” feature with narrowband woven cloths from West Africa. This paper will also argue that the African American quilt, like other facets of African American life and lore—for example language, foodways, spiritual beliefs, folk medicinal practices, and other social traditions—can best be interpreted as a product of cultural memory encapsulated in an ongoing process of creolization.

Author

• Bamidele Agbasegbe-Demerson, African American Museum and Library Oakland (AAMLO)