Black Threads: An African American Quilting Sourcebook [Hardcover]

Kyra E. Hicks (Author), Cuesta Benberry (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2002

One million African Americans spend approximately $118 million annually on quilting. Some believe that recent studies of oral histories telling of the role quilting played in the Underground Railroad have inspired African Americans to take up their fabric and needles, but whatever the reason, quilters like Faith Ringgold, Clementine Hunter, Winnie McQueen, and many others are keeping the African American traditions of quilting alive. This is the first comprehensive guide to African American quilt history and contemporary practices. It offers over 1,700 bibliographic references, many of them annotated, covering exhibit catalogs, books, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, films, novels, poetry, speeches, works of art, advertisements, patterns, greeting cards, auction results, ephemeral items, and online resources on African American quilting. The book also includes primary research done by the author on the Internet usage of African American quilters, a listing of over 100 museums with African American made quilts in their permanent collections, a directory of African American quilting groups in 29 states, and a detailed timeline that covers 200 years of African American quilting and needle arts events.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Extraordinary...an impressive annotated bibliography...recommended --Choice

The first comprehensive guide to Afro-American quilt history and modern practice...a unique and invaluable guide --Midwest Book Review

Comprehensive...an amazing reference book --The Professional Quilter

About the Author

Kyra E. Hicks is a marketing professional and quilter.  She was so mesmerized after seeing Eva Ungar Grudin's 1990 exhibition, "Stitching Memories: African-American Story Quilts," that she began to teach herself to create her own quilts. "I found my voice that afternoon in the museum," she remembers. Today, Kyra's quilts have been included in more than forty exhibitions in venues such as the American Craft Museum in New York, the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum in Hartford. She hosts the African American quilting news blog, Black Threads.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company; annotated edition edition (December 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786413743
• ISBN-13: 978-0786413744
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,473,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kyra E. Hicks was mesmerized after seeing Eva Ungar Grudin's 1990 exhibition, "Stitching Memories: African-American Story Quilts," that she began to teach herself to create her own quilts. "I found my voice that afternoon in the museum," she remembers. Today, Kyra's quilts have been included in more than 40 group exhibitions. She hosts the African American quilting news blog, Black Threads. Kyra resides in Arlington, VA.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ground Breaking and Exciting!!, November 1, 2003

By 

Carole (Columbia, MD, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Threads: An African American Quilting Sourcebook (Hardcover)

I can't say enough about the importance of this book. Every one who is interested in acquiring a true perspective on the diverse history of American quiltmaking and the role that African American quilters played in that history must own a copy of this book. Kyra Hicks spent many years tracing information about African American quilters that would otherwise soon be lost to us all. She has been diligent, careful and intensely rigorous as a scholar--and, she took this on as a true labor of love. Althugh she received some support from a national organization, Kyra Hicks used personal funds and many unpaid hours to complete this project.

The book istself is extremely well organized, and provides a wealth of detail and resources. Anyone planning to give a lecture or write an article about the history of quiltmaking will find material here that would be very difficult to access otherwise.

This book is also important becasue too many of the other books and articles only focused on the improvisational string quilt or improvisational patchwork quilt, which is only one genre of African American quilt making. Kyra clearly documents that African American quilters worked and continue to create quilts in all forms and genres.

The book has chapters documenting the influence that quilting has had on other artists and art genres as well. One of the remarkable images is that of a quilt designed by Romare Bearden, an internationally known African American artist who is generally known as one of the premier collagists of the 20th Century.

Kyra also conducted extensive online surveys of quilters, and documented very interesting facts about the enormous buying power of African American quilters in the United States. This material alone is worth the price of the book to companies that sell fabric and patterns to the quilt market.

My only regret is that the book had only a few color images. I wish that the publisher would have Kyra create a companion book in color with more of the images of the unique and unusual quilts and lesser known quilters she found.

Finally, the book is a comprehensive reference to galleries and collections for those who wish to explore the owrld of African American quiltmaking further. Buy and keep this book on your shelf--it will be useful and remarkable reading for years to come.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Includes over 1,700 bibliographic references, June 4, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Threads: An African American Quilting Sourcebook (Hardcover)

A million Afro-Americans are quilters, and some believe recent studies of oral histories telling of their quilting roots have inspired more black women to take up the art. Hicks provides the first comprehensive guide to Afro-American quilt history and modern practice and serves as a reference to the subject, recommended especially for college-level holdings. Black Threads: An African American Quilting Sourcebook compiled by Kyra Hicks includes over 1,700 bibliographic references covering exhibit catalogs, books, newspapers, films, speeches and more -- and offers primary research conducted by Hicks on the Internet usage of Afro-American quilters. Black Threads will prove to be a unique and invaluable guide.