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Gee's Bend
2008.03.20
Gee's Bend became an important part of the mid-1960s Freedom Quilting Bee, an offshoot of the Civil Rights movement designed to boost family income and foster community development by selling handcrafts to outsiders. When large numbers of residents began taking the ferry to the county seat of Camden in order to try and register to vote, local authorities reacted by eliminating ferry service in 1962. The lack of ferry service forced the residents of the community drive more than an hour in order to conduct business in Camden. The people of Gee's Bend would be without a ferry service for forty-four years.[
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Gee's Bend became an important part of the mid-1960s Freedom Quilting Bee, an offshoot of the Civil Rights movement designed to boost family income and foster community development by selling handcrafts to outsiders. When large numbers of residents began taking the ferry to the county seat of Camden in order to try and register to vote, local authorities reacted by eliminating ferry service in 1962. The lack of ferry service forced the residents of the community drive more than an hour in order to conduct business in Camden. The people of Gee's Bend would be without a ferry service for forty-four years.[
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The ferry began is operation again 2 years ago. The ride is 15 minutes long.
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The ferry began is operation again 2 years ago. The ride is 15 minutes long.
2
One of the pictures taken by granddaughter Kaitlyn
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One of the pictures taken by granddaughter Kaitlyn
3
Quilt in progress
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Quilt in progress
4
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One of the Pettway's quilting.
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One of the Pettway's quilting.
6
The Pettway's
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The Pettway's
7
I finally fulfilled one of my life goals - to visit Gees Bend, AL.
In 1980, I read about the quilters from Gee's Bend. I was amazed that Big Business would take advavantage of small town women.
~ Thursday, March 20th we drove 4.5 hours to visit. My cellphone could not pick up signals, therefore I couldn't call my daughter to let her know we had arrived.
Allison called to the community center, then a gift shop in Camden looking for us. I called the Quilters home, explained who I was and asked if there was time for me to visit the community center. She asked if I had children with me, I thought now I can't visit, little did I know she was holding the store open until I was able to complete my trip. All because of my daughter.
~ They normally close at 3PM, I didn't arrive until 5:20PM and stayed for an hour.~.
You can learn more go to: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gee's_Bend,_Alabama
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Comments
Glad you finally got to go! Loved 4 and 6 and I LOVE quilts. It's even better with a history behind them.
