Common Threads:  Quilts that transcend race

Made by Mary Louisa Jackson, an African-American woman born into slavery in 1857 in Madison County, Florida, about 40 miles east of Tallahassee.

Made by Sarah Tucker, a white woman born in 1856 in Arran, Florida, about 20 miles south of Tallahassee. 

Made in 1983 by Pearlie Posey, an African-American woman born in 1894 in Andine, Mississippi.

Made by a Pennsylvania Mennonite girl in the first part of the 20th century (probably c.1930s).

Above: Made in 1985 by Alean Pearson, an African-American woman from Oxford, Mississippi . born in 1918.  Right:  Made in the early part of the 20th century (probably c.1915-20) by Martha Ann Womble, a white woman born 1868 in Jackson County, Florida.

Above:  Made by an African-American quilter near Dallas, Texas, about 1930.  Right:  Made around 1935 by Edna Earle McKee, a white woman born in 1914 in Cottondale, Florida, about 75 miles west of Tallahassee.

Picures from Florida Quilts by Charlotte Allen Williams, Signs & Symbols by Maude Wahlman, and Crib Quilts and Other Small Wonders by Thomas Woodard and Blance Greenstein.  Additional quilts courtesy of Lynn Dowd of Garland, Texas.