Fashion

Quilting among African Americans is a vibrant, living tradition. While many people are aware of quilts as decorative or utilitarian objects—bed covers, warm wraps, or heirlooms—the deeper history involves displaced cultures, coded resistance, spiritual meaning, and aesthetic innovation. In exploring the art of quilt-making, we see how African Americans have woven together fragments of fabric, memory, survival into something beautiful and meaningful. Before the forced migration of Africans to the Americas, many societies in West and Central Africa already had rich textile arts. These include: These textile traditions were not merely aesthetic; they had meaning. Symbolism—religious or spiritual, social or familial—was often encoded in motifs, colors, and styles. When people were brought to A...