Freedom Quilting Bee received a lot of attention from media during its active years and since then, too. From The New Yorker magazine, to television, magazines and online news sites, the story of FQB has been told far and wide.
Gee’s Bend (also known as Boykin) is an isolated hamlet encircled by the Alabama River, with a population of around 200 people, most of them African American. The tight-knit community has been known for its quilting culture for decades, including its role in the Freedom Quilting Bee – a cooperative based in nearby Rehobeth that was founded in 1966 to give Black women a means to earn their own income. The initiative later helped to bring wider recognition to the region’s distinctively colourful and eclectic quilting style, including an exhibition at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. The short documentary While I Yet Live by the Los Angeles-based director Maris Curran is a rhythmic and gently reverential glimpse into the quilting community of Gee’s Bend today, offering a sojourn with five quilters as they sew, sing and reflect on the ongoing struggle for civil rights and their love of community and craft.
Director: Maris Curran
Producer: Jon Coplon
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Today, In Focus brings you the story of a community that is famous for its history and artistic quilts, the Freedom Quilting Bee Legacy in Gee’s Bend, Alabama.
University of Alabama Digital Media Center explores the history of the Freedom Quilting Bee, a cooperative established in 1966 in Wilcox County, Alabama. This documentary examines how a group of women transformed their traditional needlework into a source of economic independence, community empowerment, and artistic recognition during the height of the civil rights movement.
This award-winning PBS film asks, “What is Art and who decides?”