| An American Quilt Contributor(s): May, Rachel (Author) |
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ISBN: 1643132369 ISBN-13: 9781643132365 Publisher: Pegasus Books OUR PRICE: $17.06 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2019 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | African American - Social Science | Slavery - History | Women |
| Dewey: 306.362 |
| Physical Information: 1.2" H x 5.7" W x 8.7" (1.00 lbs) 416 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Cultural Region - New England - Demographic Orientation - Urban - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Sex & Gender - Feminine - Topical - Black History |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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 1830sera 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. |
Contributor Bio(s): May, Rachel: - Rachel May is the author of Quilting with a Modern Slant, a 2014 Library Journal and Amazon.com "Best Book of the Year." She is an assistant professor at Northern Michigan University and lives in Marquette, Michigan. |