Jefferson County Memorial Quilt Workshop

Create Birmingham, in partnership with Jefferson County Memorial Project, Bib & Tucker Sew-Op, The Black Cherry Tree Project, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will manage The Jefferson County Memorial Quilt Project. A community-based initiative, this project seeks to reckon with central Alabama’s haunting history of racial violence and propel racial reconciliation through the co-construction of a Jefferson County Memorial Quilt, which will be created in honor of the 33 African-Americans who were lynched in Jefferson County from the mid-19th through the mid-20th century.

The Workshops

Aiming to foster productive dialogue around race, justice, and community unity, this project will host six free, public sewing workshops in communities across Jefferson County, during which participants will create individual squares of what will become the Jefferson County Memorial Quilt. Participants will be provided with sewing kits and instruction from Bib & Tucker Sew-Op, while educational programming surrounding the nature and importance of this history and the project will be led by The Black Cherry Tree Project during a portion of each workshop. Each individual square as well as educational programming for the workshops will be designed using research provided by the Jefferson County Memorial Project from their Victim Archives. In addition to developing educational material, JCMP will produce a visual manual for participants that will include partner information, quilting instructions, historical references, and drop-off locations for finished squares.

What to Expect

Each sewing workshop is two hours long, and participants should prepare to stay the entire time. The sessions will be facilitated collaboratively by Jefferson County Memorial Project, The Black Cherry Tree Project, and Bib & Tucker Sew-Op. At the beginning of each workshop, participants will receive a brief introduction to the project and an overview of the history and ramifications of lynching in Jefferson County by JCMP and TBCTP. Following the introduction, participants will sew their quilt blocks, which will be led by Bib & Tucker Sew-Op. Sewists will have the option to stitch a stenciled block or to create their own design using scrap fabric, embroidery floss. fabric markers, and sewing notions. All materials will be provided, but participants are welcome to bring their own. At the end of each workshop, participants can turn in their completed block, or take it home to finish.

This workshop will be facilitated by Gina Mallisham, Sonya Muhammad, and Miriam Omura.

Host or Publisher Create Birmingham