Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California
Foreword by Julie Rodrigues Widholm. Edited with text by Elaine Y. Yau. Text by Daphne A. Brooks, Bridget R. Cooks, Basil Kincaid, Eli Leon, Adia Millett, Matthew Villar Miranda, Wendy M. Thompson. Conversation with Sharbreon Plummer, Carolyn Mazloomi, A’donna Richardson.
A celebration of the joyful power of African American quilts, featuring images of over 100 quilts, new research and essays
Published with Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA).
The first publication dedicated to historical African American quilts in California, Routed West traces the flow and flourishing of quilts in the context of the Second Great Migration from 1940 to 1970. As millions of African Americans sought greater economic opportunities and freedom outside of the American South, hundreds of thousands initially arrived in the Golden State. Many migrants carried quilts as functional objects and physical reminders of the homes they left behind. They also brought their quiltmaking skills, extending the art form’s Southern roots to the western United States in the later part of the 20th century. Featuring vibrant images of over 100 quilts by nearly 90 individuals—the majority of whom are women and have ties to the San Francisco Bay Area—and new research, Routed West honors the resilience, self-determination, collective care and creative ingenuity of this distinctive migrant generation. Essays by scholars, curators, quilt historians and artists celebrate the joyful power of African American quilts as objects of beauty, memory and cultural reclamation within Black life, and explore the role of museums in their stewardship and preservation. This book accompanies a group exhibition of artworks drawn from the African American quilt collection at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
American Craft
This sumptuous begins with a detailed and well-illustrated history of Black quilting in California, then shifts to page after page of images of the gorgeous quilts, plus essays by scholars, curators, and artists.
The New York Times
Jori Finkel
Yau’s exhibition draws on a massive 2019 gift to the museum: 3,275 quilts and related works from the estate of Eli Leon, an impassioned collector of African American quilts, and a self-taught scholar.
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Published to accompany the upcoming exhibition at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California collects more than 100 quilts by nearly 90 individual African American quilters working during the Second Great Migration, 1940 to 1970. These are drawn from BAMPFA’s renowned collection of more than 3,000 quilts, most of which were produced by women with ties to the San Francisco Bay Area. “At its foundation, Routed West is about an ethic of care that underlines the flow and flourishing of quilts within African American communities,” Elaine Y. Yau writes. “It is an ethic that guides how fabrics are salvaged and chosen, puts hands to work to fill physical or emotional needs, tends to past memory as much as it does to present and future kin, and calls forth the quiltmaker’s own image of beauty from the sovereign space of the imagination. That the stories gathered here include California as part of their journey is specific to these quilts, but they are not exclusive to the Golden State; in terms of their other destinations and travels, one need only look at a map of other African American migration routes for a view of where quilts, made and kept for sustaining Black life, can likely be found.”
ABOVE: Susan Pless. Before 1944; Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. “Untitled (Strip).” Corduroy, cotton, cotton / polyester blend, velveteen; machine pieced, hand quilted 82 x 75 in. Bequest of the Eli Leon Living Trust, BAMPFA. Photo: Kevin Candland.
Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California
Published by DelMonico Books. Foreword by Julie Rodrigues Widholm. Edited with text by Elaine Y. Yau. Text by Daphne A. Brooks, Bridget R. Cooks, Basil Kincaid, Eli Leon, Adia Millett, Matthew Villar Miranda, Wendy M. Thompson. Conversation with Sharbreon Plummer, Carolyn Mazloomi, A’donna Richardson.
A celebration of the joyful power of African American quilts, featuring images of over 100 quilts, new research and essays
Published with Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA).
The first publication dedicated to historical African American quilts in California, Routed West traces the flow and flourishing of quilts in the context of the Second Great Migration from 1940 to 1970. As millions of African Americans sought greater economic opportunities and freedom outside of the American South, hundreds of thousands initially arrived in the Golden State. Many migrants carried quilts as functional objects and physical reminders of the homes they left behind. They also brought their quiltmaking skills, extending the art form’s Southern roots to the western United States in the later part of the 20th century.
Featuring vibrant images of over 100 quilts by nearly 90 individuals—the majority of whom are women and have ties to the San Francisco Bay Area—and new research, Routed West honors the resilience, self-determination, collective care and creative ingenuity of this distinctive migrant generation. Essays by scholars, curators, quilt historians and artists celebrate the joyful power of African American quilts as objects of beauty, memory and cultural reclamation within Black life, and explore the role of museums in their stewardship and preservation. This book accompanies a group exhibition of artworks drawn from the African American quilt collection at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
