Bibliograph

An American quilt, unfolding a story of family and slavery, Rachel May

Type

Label

An American quilt, unfolding a story of family and slavery, Rachel May

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 403-444)

Illustrations

platesportraitsillustrationsgenealogical tables

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

An American quilt

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1009013394

Responsibility statement

Rachel May

Sub title

unfolding a story of family and slavery

Summary

"Following the trail left by an unfinished quilt, this illuminating saga examines slavery from the cotton fields of the South to the textile mills of New England--and the humanity behind it. When we think of slavery, most of us think of the American South. We think of back-breaking fieldwork on plantations. We don't think of slavery in the North, nor do we think of the grueling labor of urban and domestic slaves. Rachel May's rich new book explores the far reach of slavery, from New England to the Caribbean, the role it played in the growth of mercantile America, and the bonds between the agrarian south and the industrial north in the antebellum era--all through the discovery of a remarkable quilt. While studying objects in a textile collection, May opened a veritable treasure-trove: a carefully folded, unfinished quilt made of 1830s-era fabrics, its backing containing fragile, aged papers with the dates 1798, 1808, and 1813, the words 'shuger, ' 'rum, ' 'casks, ' and 'West Indies, ' repeated over and over, along with 'friendship, ' 'kindness, ' 'government, ' and 'incident.' The quilt top sent her on a journey to piece together the story of Minerva, Eliza, Jane, and Juba--the enslaved women behind the quilt--and their owner, Susan Crouch. May brilliantly stitches together the often-silenced legacy of slavery by revealing the lives of these urban enslaved women and their world. Beautifully written and richly imagined, An American Quilt is a luminous historical examination and an appreciation of a craft that provides such a tactile connection to the past."--Jacket

Table Of Contents

Piecing the quilt -- Eliza, Minerva, & Juba -- Warp & weft : agriculture & industry -- Mosaic -- Medicine & its failures -- Hickory root -- The Leonids : a sermon in patchwork -- Even there -- Canuto Matanew -- An abomination -- Living history -- Portraits

Classification