Food: Life, Art, Culture, Science

What we eat, how we eat, and who we eat with, reflects and refracts history, current affairs, the personal and the political. As the holiday season approaches, with all the focus on food that it brings, contemplating the nature of food and the larger role it plays beyond basic survival may provide some interesting conversation at the dinner table.

African American chefs, food historians, and heritage gardeners have long extolled the importance of understanding not only where the foods one purchases today come from, but also the culinary history of African Americans. It is a rich history shaped by place of origin, travails of enslavement, and cultivating the soils in the new land.

George Washington Carver, agronomist and scientist, laid the groundwork allowing today's food historians and chefs to embrace and share this rich food heritage.  Carver was an early promoter of helping black farmers better understand their land and crops to give them greater economic power, knowledge, and control of their resources.

Burgundy okra

Edna Lewis was a seminal figure in the food landscape of the 20th century. She was a ground breaker as a female chef, a black female chef no less, as she fed New Yorkers simple, elegant Southern cooking. Her legacy is the creation of the Edna Lewis Foundation dedicated to "honor, cultivate, and preserve, the rich African-American culinary history by offering a variety of events and programs designed to educate, inspire, entertain, and promote a deeper understanding of Southern culinary culture and heritage." And as importantly, to educate, train, and mentor young African American chefs.

There currently are a number of black chefs whose restaurants and books have made an impact on American food enthusiasts. These include  Marcus Samuelsson in New York; Wayne Johnson and  Daisley Gordon in Seattle. There have been awards and ceremonies celebrating black chefs, including black chefs of the White House.

And last, but not least, there is you, dear reader. If guidance and inspiration is needed, check out Black America Cooks for ideas about cookbooks celebrating African American cooking, dishes new to you, and what other food enthusiasts are thinking about. And, if you want to go back to primary sources, here is a link to a discussion of the first African American Cookbook (1866!) by Mrs. Malinda Russell. Fifteen years after Mrs. Russell published her book, Mrs. Abby Fisher, an ex-slave, published "What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Southern Cooking". She subsequently started a catering business in San Francisco. Have any family stories about particular recipes, food events, vegetable gardening?.....post a comment!

We are Them, They are Us.

In early October, BlackPast.org launched, with support from the Pride Foundation, a new section on the history of African Americans and people of African descent in other parts of the world who are LGBTQ (Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer). This is a major milestone in affirming the rights and humanity of all. It is unfortunate that all LGBTQ people do not find this support from their fellow citizens. To understand just what peril so many people face who just want to live their lives in peace with those they love, this map of Africa is an eye-opener.

Same-sex sexual activity legal

  Same-sex marriage recognized

  Other type of partnership (or unregistered cohabitation) recognized

  Foreign same-sex marriages recognized

  No recognition of same-sex couples

Same-sex sexual activity illegal

  Penalty

  Life in prison

  Death penalty

(to see a breakdown by country of this data, go to this link here)

 There is a rich history in literature and the arts by and about LGBTQ African Americans and Africans in the diaspora. Many of these are found at this link on BlackPast.org. 

An excellent place start reading is Shade: An Anthology of Fiction by Gay Men of African Descent

A second choice is Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual African American Fiction
For another list of fiction and contextual description, check here.

And finally, a moment of silence for all those hounded to misery and death by hate and ignorance.
Two references appeared in the news today (months after this post appeared) that will give the reader some more current information. The first link is to a series of articles in allAfrica.com, the online news service.  The second article was in the Seattle Times reporting the fine line US diplomats and President Obama have to tread when promoting gay rights in African nations.

A Meditation on the Anniversary

September 11 2001. There is little new to be said, there is much to left to ponder. That terrible day was an equal opportunity story of horror, loss, and bravery. The world lost many of its citizens. The world gained new heroes, many who became victims themselves, as they tried to help their fellow humans. There are personal and public memorials attesting to the lives lost. Putting a name or a face on one individual and honoring that person in the name of those lost allows each of us to recognize that tragedy has a name, a family, a country.

Cote d'Ivoire

Democratic Republic of Congo

Ethiopia

Ghana

South Africa

There were 2,977 casualties from the four planes, the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon. More that 90 countries lost citizens. Of those, six countries were in Africa: Cote d'Ivoire (1person), Democratic Republic of Congo (2 people), Ethiopia (3 people), Ghana (2 people), Nigeria (1 person), and South Africa (2 people).

Nigeria

 One of the victim/heroes of that terrible day was a young Nigerian man, Godwin Ajala. Mr. Ajala, a lawyer in Nigeria, had emigrated to New York in 1995 in the hopes of becoming a US-trained lawyer. Passing the New York bar is very difficult by any account, let alone for a person who has not been trained in a US law school. Mr. Ajala was not to be deterred! He studied nights and was a security guard by day, at the World Trade Towers. On that fateful day, he could have left when the Towers were hit. Instead, he gave assistance to his fellow humans and attempted to get them to safety. The world lost an honorable man.

Labor Day: Summer's Last Hurrah

Autumn does not start officially until September 22nd. Traditionally, families and friends gather for one last big barbeque, family reunion, or day on the beach over the Labor Day weekend, and this signifies the end of summer. It was not that long ago, that a day at the beach for African Americans was as fraught as the back of the bus, the lunch counter, the road trip that required so much planning because so few hospitality facilities were available.

Idlewild Resort, Michigan

Starting in the 1890's, one solution to the "beach problem" was the development of resorts for African American families and the creation of public beaches by successful black entrepreneurs. As always, the poor had to just make do in most places. But for those of means or who were able to plan and make the trip, these resorts and beaches were major holiday destinations. Many of these resorts began to fall on hard times as desegregation offered black families more choices in where vacations could be taken. But until then, they were very successful. Watch a video here called A Place of Our Own: Black Resorts and the African American.

American Beach, Florida

There were at least thirteen beaches and resorts of note. These were Idlewild on the shores of Lake Michigan; Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts; Highland Beach, Maryland; American Beach, Florida; Pacific Beach Club, Los Angeles, California; Gulfside Assembly, Waveland, Mississippi; Freeman Beach, Wilmington, North Carolina; Sag Harbor, New York; Bruce's Beach, near Los Angeles, California; Buckroe Beach, Bay Shore, and Mark Haven, Virginia (click here for information on the previous six listings); and lastly, Lincoln Hills Country Club with the famous Winks Lodge in Colorado.

Highland Beach, Maryland

Each of these resorts has a unique history and starting point. Idlewild was started by two white couples from Chicago who saw a need and a business opportunity. Highland Beach was started by descendents of Frederick Douglass. American Beach was founded by Florida’s "first black millionaire, Abraham Lincoln Lewis, and his Afro-American Life Insurance Company". Famous entertainers, business people, intellectuals, and members of the working class all spent time at these resorts. The links throughout this post contain a wealth of information.

Graveyards Speak

Knowledge about our history, about our past, can show up in the oddest places and under the strangest circumstances. People trace and record their family history through found documents, government records, photos, and other memorabilia. More and more genealogical data bases are being constructed and added to. Be sure to check the resources at BlackPast.org when beginning a family genealogy search or for refining research already underway. And also check out this genealogy website for more information regarding descendents of the single largest manumission in U.S history until the Civil War: Robert Carter III manumitted 500 slaves on his plantation in 1791.

Graveyards can be tremendous repositories (pun intended!) if they can be found. The New York Times reported in May, 2012 that Walmart planned to build a new store in Florence, Alabama. The building site was situated next to a family cemetery where the grave markers for the white family were apparent but there were no markers for the slaves who had worked for the family. The concern was that the building would be over the graves of the slaves. Read the article to find out how the community rallied, how the City Council made decisions, how Walmart tried to do the right thing.

There have been many such instances of discovering graveyards covered by history and almost forgotten.

African Burial Ground Monument, NYC

Slave cemetery, cotton plantation, Florida

Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Roslyn, Washington

 From New York City's African Burial Ground (the African Burial Ground Monument is worth a visit to Lower Manhattan) to Virginia, all the way to slave cemeteries in Florida, back up to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, then all the way over to Roslyn, Washington where Mount Olivet Cemetery, also known as the Old Black Cemetery, can be found.

 The Chicora Foundation has assembled information on the history of African American cemeteries in the Carolinas. For more information related to cemeteries and segregation, be sure to check out this link at BlackPast.org. National Public Radio (NPR) is running a series called Dead Stop and recently featured Lincoln Cemetery in Montgomery, Alabama which had been established in 1907 for African Americans and had fallen on hard times. Again, community involvement and a sense of saving and understanding the past inorder to move forward into the future, makes for an interesting story.

NASA and the Legacy of Eminent Black Scientists and Engineers

This summer marks another milestone in NASA’s Mars exploration efforts: the landing of the Curiosity Rover. Space craft, space stations, and the astronauts who operate and populate them are the newsflash and news splash people love to read about. Astronauts Mae Jemison, Michael Anderson, Frederick Gregory, Ronald McNair have thrilled many a school child with dreams of space.  The forerunners of these astronauts are the black aviators, whose courage and daring can be read about in these two books by Von Hardesty.

from the book Black Wings

But, none of this would have been possible without the years of dedication, experimentation, and problem-solving by the ‘worker bee brains’ behind the public face of NASA. 

Several years ago, Mae Jemison narrated an audio documentary called Race and the Space Race (the link takes you to the transcript, but you can listen to it by clicking on the title) produced by Richard Paul as part of a larger project called Cape Cosmos: be sure to explore the personal interviews within that site of many of the people mentioned below. A download of those documents may be found here. Jemison explains that the Space Age and the Civil Rights Movement became entwined when NASA chose to “base itself in the heart of the Old Confederacy”, Houston, Huntsville, Cape Canaveral, and therefore became a mirror of social change in America. 

Dr. George Carruthers

The key players in this story who broke the color barrier are Julius Montgomery (the second African American hired at Cape Canaveral and who was involved in building circuits and dealing with missiles and rockets that misfired), Otis King, Theodis Ray, Dr. Frank Crossley, Morgan Watson.  Interviews with Morgan Watson (the first African American engineer at NASA, who worked on heat transfer in rocket engines and helped design the heat shield that protected the liquified oxygen fuel from the heat of the escaping gases) and George Carruthers (who invented the first ultraviolet camera) can be heard and seen here, just click on the Interview tab. Jemison’s conversations with these scientists and engineers covers how they were recruited, the obstacles to promotion they faced, the initial social isolation, and the learning curve both they and NASA had to tackle to make the program and their involvement work. One of the ‘duh/light bulb’ moments occurred when one of the NASA administrators tried to understand why the African American scientists never attended the career development workshops. These seminars were held in hotel conference rooms, these hotels were segregated!

Mary Winton Jackson,1921-2005

Other prominent scientists were Emmett Chappelle (information about his inventions and his NASA career can be found at the linked words); Shelby Jacobs; and Mary Winston Jackson, an early "computer" at NASA, as women mathematicians were called in the 1960s.

And the next frontier? The obvious segue here is to go from someone whose mathematical skills were such that she was called a computer to those pioneering African Americans who are working as software engineers with computers. The torch has been literally passed from Mary Jackson to Trish Millines Dziko first African American woman employed at Microsoft as a software engineer. But, that is a post for another time: stay tuned!

Thinking of Travel: Armchair and Otherwise

There are many reasons to travel. Two of them are relaxation and education. Many people plan trips to countries and/or cultures of origin; trips within their own country to learn about the lives and histories of family and friends; visits to museums and other cultural institutions. If physical travel is not an option, there is much to recommend the practice of armchair exploration through books, both fiction and non-fiction. 

Margaret Busby

Can’t decide where to start? Pick up a copy of Margaret Busby’s magnificent compendium, Daughters of Africa  An International  Anthology of Words and Writing by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present: reading an excerpt from any one of these women, from any place in the world, will be a jumping off place for adventurous travel! Pick a place, pick a time period, and you’re off! 

Traveling in the United States and Canada: the Black Museum page at BlackPast.org is a great resource. The museums are organized by state, making trip planning easier. BlackPast.org also has a Bibliography of 101 African American  novels. There are sure to be inspirations for exploration and travel on this list. These books help create a context and sense of place and people that adds richness to information found in the museums. The website Discover Black America  has current listings for events, exhibitions, tours, restaurants, as well as listings for Black Colleges: visiting colleges is a great organizing principle for a family vacation. Be sure to check out photographer Dawoud Bey’s retrospective Portraits of 1970s Harlem currently showing at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Seeking travel to lost worlds and  back in time? Check out, Once Upon A Time When We Were Colored by Clifton L.Taulbert, about life in small town Mississippi when segregation meant a town was either black or white. Three books by Edward P. Jones, Lost in the City, The Known World, and Aunt Hagar’s Children are stunning in their descriptions of urban life in Washington, D.C. and a fictional county in Virginia during slavery.  

From When London Was Capital of America

 For a different slice of early American life, read When London Was Capital of America by Julie Flavel. Prior to the American Revolution, wealthy plantation owners took their families and slaves off to London for…shopping trips and other forms of cultural enrichment! These visits lasted three months or more. A portion of the book deals with one of these slaves, Scipio, who renamed himself Robert Laurens and ended up staying in London, feeling comfortably at home in a place with the 15,000 other black inhabitants.

Gullah basket, South Carolina

Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God  are good examples of fiction based in and on Gullah Culture in and around South Carolina and the Islands.

Peek into rarefied worlds by reading Stephen L.Carter’s Emperor of Ocean Park, set in Martha's Vineyard. It is both a story of suspense as well as a look at upper crust African American society and an Ivy League law school. Step into the 1960s and identity politics in the black middle class bourgeoisie when reading Darryl Pinkney's High Cotton.

Travel to the Caribbean by armchair, boat, or plane through the eyes of Edwidge Danticat’s Breath, Eyes, Memory and Krik? Krak. Britain’s Caryl Phillips’ Crossing the River offers yet another point of view. Jamaica Kinkaid will take you to the West Indies with her highly acclaimed books Lucy and Annie John. Any thoughts of historical Haiti would not be complete without reading Madison Smartt Bell’s All Souls’ Rising, Master of the Crossroads, and biography of Toussaint Louverture.

Paris or Berlin? Check out Esi Edugyan’s Half-Blood Blues, a book that straddles Baltimore, Berlin, and Paris from the 1930’s to the 1980’s. Based on a true story about a Black German musician and the rise of Nazi Germany. Until the Second World War, there were a significant number of Black Germans tracing their origins back to Germany's colonies in Africa: they were recruited to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. Paris is a great place to explore the lives of African American expat artists as well as the rich cultural addition of immigrants from former French colonies in Africa. So much so, that an enterprising travelista has created guided tours for individuals and groups.

For more info on Black Paris Tours click here.

Still need ideas? Find a map, find some books, create your own adventure.

Antique map of Africa

Olympians Past and Present

The very nature of the Olympics means that there are always firsts (fastest, highest, longest), athletes overcoming obstacles (literally and figuratively), personal stories of hard work and triumph. There are also stories of disappointments, pain, and missed opportunities.  The 2012 Olympics in London, England marks the 100 year anniversary since the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden when the “World’s Fastest Human” was not able to participate due to injuries.  Howard P. Drew, who set or tied every world record in his field between 1913 to 1916, was aiming for a record in the 100 meter semi-final when he sustained an injury on the track. He planned to compete once again in the 1916 Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War I.

Jesse Owen & his wife, Ruth, returning from the 1936 Olympics

The earliest African Americans to achieve firsts in the Olympics are George Coleman Poage, the first African American to win a medal at the Olympics in 1904; John Baxter Taylor, the first black person to win a gold medal at the games, 1904; William DeHart Hubbard, the first person to win an individual medal in 1924; Jesse Owens who was the first black person to win four gold medals and his teammate, Ralph Metcalf who won two gold medals in 1936; and finally Alice Marie Coachman who, in 1948, became the first black woman to win a gold medal at the games. 

Gabby Douglas, 16, from Virginia Beach, VA

The London Olympics is sure to produce many such athletic and human interest stories such as those referenced above. Dominique Dawes was the first African American female gymnast to go to the Olympics and, following in her footsteps, is The Flying Squirrel, Gabby Douglas.  

Another athlete to follow is Lex Gillette, the blind long jumper, who will be competing for the USA in the Paralympics.

Lex Gillette & guide, Wesley Williams

 For more stories about female athletes overcoming incredible odds to get to the Games, watch the videos about these young Muslim women competing for various African nations despite living in the African Diaspora.

The Sudan Female Running Team

Urban Farming.....who knew!

African Americans, like any other migrant or immigrant group moving from rural, farming communities to cities, have over time lost touch with their rural roots and rural knowledge and skills. In addition, a combination of the economic downturn  in 2008, the continued explosion in the health problems of urban dwellers, blight in the urban core of former manufacturing centers in what is now called the rust belt, and other factors has lead to a resurgence of people planting vegetable gardens and orchards in many cities in America.  

Two people responsible for educating the public on the importance of urban farming and implementing programs in support of this work are First Lady Michelle Obama and Urban Farmer Extraordinaire Will Allen. Michelle Obama turned a portion of the White House gardens into a place where not only could the White Chef and Kitchen use the bounty, but a place where children could be brought in to plant, harvest, learn about, and eat homegrown healthy food. This demonstration garden has set an example for home gardeners around the country. To highlight the successes of the White House gardens and kitchen, Mrs. Obama has written a book, American Grown, which can be purchased here.

Will Allen grew up on a farm in Rockville, Maryland, went off to college and a brief basketball career, before returning to his wife’s hometown, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and pursuing a corporate career.  The parents of Allen’s wife, Cindy, owned a farm just south of Milwaukee where Allen did some farming, selling the excess produce at farmers’ markets.  

 The beginning of what was to become Will Allen’s life’s work occurred when he purchased a derelict nursery. Thus began Growing Power, Inc., an organization dedicated to bringing agricultural knowledge to the inner city.

Growing Power has set up urban farms in a number of American cities, involving youth, the elderly, the poor, the enthusiastic. People have learned about aquaponics, composting, bee keeping, vertical integration in farm systems. Research is being conducted by locals, amateurs, and food scientists alike. There are regional training centers around the country

Will Allen with youth

Will Allen speaks around the country to community groups establishing urban farms, such as the seven-acre Beacon Food Forest in Seattle, the largest of its kind in the US. His enthusiasm has encouraged the US Department of Agriculture in its efforts to bring healthy, fresh produce to fresh food “deserts”. University students, such as those at the University of Washington, have created on-campus farms. This interest in urban farming is found in apartment window boxes and rooftops; empty lots; home renters’ and owners’ gardens; community allotments; derelict factories.  Will Allen has sown the seeds of empowerment, helping people re-learn that most basic of human skills: how to properly feed oneself and one’s community.

In Appreciation, In Memoriam

BlackPast.org is more than an encyclopedia and repository documenting, describing, and archiving information, stories, data, and analysis of African American History and History of the Global African Diaspora. It is a community of committed, caring individuals coming together  because they all share a dedication to uncovering, preserving, and describing the history of the African American people as part of the larger story of the United States. 

Thomas J. Pressly

Newspaper Clipping

Thomas J. Pressly, a longtime University of Washington historian  was one such academic who was an early supporter of BlackPast.org. The article he wrote for BlackPast.org, titled “Eyewitness to Terror: The Lynching of a Black Man in Obion County, Tennessee in 1931", was a reminder of the racial violence that far too often marred this nation's past. Dr. Pressly's essay describes one example of this violence and his reaction to it when he was just 12 years old. Thomas J. Pressly shared that story with many friends and colleagues over the years; in 2008 he wrote about it for the first time in BlackPast.org. Nearly 10,000 people have read his account since it was posted.  

Although Thomas J. Pressly was a significant historian of the Civil War and gave hundreds of presentations, the last time he was on television was in 2010 when a team from the BBC interviewed him about his article in BlackPast.org. He was tickled by the fact that the most important television interview in his life was not about his academic writings but instead on his article for the website.  

Dr. Pressly's bio on the BlackPast.org website reads: “Thomas J. Pressly (PhD., Harvard, 1950) is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Washington. A member of the faculty from 1949 until his retirement in 1986, and a specialist in Southern and Civil War history, Professor Pressly’s career spanned nearly four decades. During that period he taught nearly 20,000 students. His many publications include Americans Interpret Their Civil War (1954) and Voices from the House Divided: The United States Civil War as Personal Experience (1995). Professor Pressly lives in Seattle, Washington.” He passed away here on April 3, 2012. Readers may wish to learn more about him by reading his obituary in the Seattle Times and in the tribute written by his UW colleague, Richard Kirkendall. 

Tom Pressly & Richard Kirkendall

To give a gift to the University of Washington in Tom Pressly's honor, please visit this link or contact the History Department at 206-543-5790. To give a gift in memory of Tom Pressly to BlackPast.org, please visit this link.

We at BlackPast.org will always remember Thomas J. Pressly as part of our family.

Timbuktu: Sadness and Outrage

The Sahara has been home to 1100 years of libraries and bibliophiles. From Chinguetti 

Examining manuscripts from Timbuktu

in Mauritania to Timbuktu in Mali.

  

In 2007, Malian historian Ismaël Diadié Haïdara was predicting a resurgence of Timbuktu’s cultural place in today’s world. He reported there had been renewed interest in the ancient documents, manuscripts, and books found in the homes of many Malian citizens as well as in mosques and other locations. What a turn-around and sad state of affairs today! The online news source allAfrica reported several days ago on the current attacks by militant Islamists on many of these ancient sites in Timbuktu

Library of Manuscripts, Timbuktu, Mali

The militant Islamists intend to destroy all the  ancient mosques and monuments. They believe these 'shrines' are not a component of Sharia law. Housed in these mosques are valuable manuscripts, part of the cultural heritage of Mali. Many of the ancient sites under attack in Timbuktu are  UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Concerns have been expressed in the UN and the Islamists have been warned. We all need to express our outrage at this travesty. Back in April, the New York Times  reported that the UN had expressed concern over books and documents being stolen by these invading militants.

This conflict in Mali is complicated. While seemingly out of the blue, some of the tension can be traced back to 2009 when the government of Mali allowed then dictator of Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, to take over and lease farm land belonging to villages and local farmers. After the Libyan Revolution, many Qaddafi supporters fled to Mali.  Many of these refugees were members of  minority groups in Libya that had been protected by Qaddafi in exchange for support. These included Tuaregs who are also Malians and, it is believed, some of the militant Islamists.

For more background on Timbuktu, click here.

The Ahmed Baba Institute Library interior, Mali

The Smithsonian has an online exhibit on Ancient Manuscripts from the Desert Libraries of Timbuktu: be sure to check it out, it is fabulous.

 While looking for information on the above topics, I came across Mmofra: a non-profit organization in Ghana “dedicated to enriching the cultural and intellectual lives of all children in Ghana. On their website is a blog post about the ancient libraries of the Sahara.There is interesting information on their website.

An addendum: thanks to Holland Cotter of the New York Times for his article Imperiled Legacy

Welcome to the first post at BlackPast.org’s new Blog.

The Blog is a new feature to BlackPast.org.  The primary blogger is me, Hazel. The topics in blog posts may cover current affairs, art exhibits, book reviews, science, farming, any topic that brings into focus contributions to our community by African Americans and Africans in the Diaspora.  Guest contributors to the blog will visit and comment on a variety of topics.

I expect that the Blog will evolve and change over time, but the focus will always be to highlight new ideas and information that both refer back to BlackPast.org's content and bring in new voices, information, and sources. The BlackPast.org website contains a fabulous collection of photos, some of which come with minimal information. From time to time, I will post some of those photos and ask your help with any identifying information you may have. I plan to cover art, music, literature, history. This Blog is meant to be informative, not combative. Readers have the option to email information, comments, suggestions to me, but remember to be respectful of other readers and opinions.

Frederick C. Flemister, Self-portrait

Several years ago, I heard a story on NPR about the international art extravaganza in Miami, Art Basel. The year was 2008 and the reporter was commenting on the number of African Americans purchasing art by African Americans and what a new, big trend this was. One of the artists featured prominently was Frederick C. Flemister: I was captivated by the self-portrait shown left and went hunting for more information about him. There is very little available. Two website entries have minimal information. I have also been able to only come across one other painting by him: Man with a Brush (below right). 

If anyone has any more information, please let me know! For more information on the Harlem Renaissance, check out BlackPast.org’s information links here. 

Frederick C. Flemister, Man with a Brush

The Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA has an exhibit of African American Quilts  from the collection of Corrine Riley:  any visitors to the Seattle area between now and October 2012 should be sure to plan a visit. Over the last several years, the Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle has displayed the famous quilts of Gees Bend, Alabama: these women have created stunning works, both abstract in design and traditional. At the link above, be to scroll down passed the quilts to read the copy about this community. As you look at these quilts, also check out the website of The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. They had a recent exhibit on Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa. There are many interesting ideas to explore in looking at similarities in design concepts between the quilts and the various woven textiles. The catalogue that accompanied the exhibit is well worth purchasing.

Kuba Cloth