Black Quilters in the American South

The Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) announces the upcoming exhibition Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South on view from November 16, 2024, through April 13, 2025.

The exhibition will showcase over 50 handmade and machine–stitched quilts from the Museum’s permanent collection, spanning the 1960s to 2010, highlighting the rich and diverse heritage of Black quilters in the American South, including the Carolinas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Featured artists include Annie Dennis, Gwendolyn Magee, Annie Mae Morgan, Geraldine Nash, Hystercine Rankin, Emma Russell, Elizabeth T. Scott, Joyce J. Scott, and Mabel Williams. After its MMA presentation, the exhibition will travel nationally.

“The quilts on display represent both the artistry and a deep cultural narrative conveyed by the makers over decades. They are a testament to resilience, creativity, and community,” Sharbreon Plummer, Of Salt and Spirit curator, said. “We invite everyone to engage with these powerful stories and appreciate the intricate work of these talented artists.”

Over the past two decades, MMA has amassed one of the largest quilt collections in the American South embodying the artistry and community connections of the art form. In 2022, MMA’s collection expanded with a generous gift from the Kohler Foundation of 131 quilts from the personal collection of American photographer and folklorist Roland L. Freeman. Twenty works from the Freeman collection are featured in the exhibition. 

A hallmark of the installation is the inclusion of in-exhibition engagement spaces, designed to provide visitors and students with tactile opportunities to deepen their experience of the exhibition and its themes. Visitors will encounter quilts made from various fabrics including cotton, polyester, wool, and velvet. The choice of fabrics often reveals the decade in which the quilts were made, providing historical context.

A long-held tradition in the Deep South, quilting began to lose popularity after World War II with advancements in large-scale production. In response, Mississippi Cultural Crossroads began an intergenerational program in 1978 to help younger generations learn about their complex cultural heritage. Anchored in Claiborne County, Cultural Crossroads joined with Addison Junior High in Port Gibson to bring four quilters to the school as part of a folk artist residency. These residencies were hugely successful, establishing new artists and enriching students’ practical and artistic skills. These residences also established Crossroads Quilters—a vibrant quilting circle which has produced award-winning work. Works by Crossroads Quilters are included in the exhibition.

Associated ephemera in the exhibition will include photographs from Freeman’s fieldwork and research along with oral histories from quilters and his other interviewees.

About Roland Freeman

Roland L. Freeman (1936-2023) worked as a stringer for Time magazine and Magnum Photos in the 1960s, including a stint as a White House photographer. During Freeman’s travels through the American South and as a co-director of the Mississippi Folklife Project, he began photographing and documenting African American quilters and guilds. His interest in craft traditions informed his collection long before others took note of this distinctive but little-recognized artistic tradition.

During his life, Freeman amassed more than 120 quilts and created several of his original own designs. In 1979, he published “Something to Keep You Warm,” the first book about quilts made by African Americans, and curated the related national touring exhibition, the first of its kind. As Freeman’s appreciation for the milieu grew, his documentation project evolved and expanded. Freeman came to realize quilts were far more than “just something to keep you warm.” In “A Communion of the Spirits,” his second book published in 1996, Freeman expressed his belief that quilts are magical, stating, “Quilts have the power to create a virtual web of connections—individual, generational, professional, physical, spiritual, cultural, and historical.” 

Many of the 131 quilts gifted to MMA were made in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and other Southern states, as well as international locations such as Liberia and South Africa. Several are by quilters in MMA’s permanent collection, including Annie Dennis, Crossroad Quilters, and Hystercine Rankin. Thirteen of Freeman’s photographs are also in MMA’s permanent collection. 

Visitor Information

Opening Hours

Tuesday – Saturday: 11 AM – 5 PM

Sunday: 12 – 5 PM

Admission Prices

$15 Adults 

$13 Seniors (65+)

$10 Youth (ages 5-17) and College Students (with ID) 

Free admission is currently offered to the following groups:

• MMA Members 
• Children age 5 and under 
• For the public the first Saturday of every month for Access for All: Free First Saturdays. Generous support is provided by the Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All.
• K-12 students on Tuesdays thanks to Feild Co-Operative Association and Thursdays thanks to Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi
• Mississippi State University students thanks to our Collegiate partner program.