An American Quilt
Page 48
Page 367: Copyright © Wikimedia Commons.
Page 373: Woman in striped dress. Courtesy of the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Page 384: Copyright © John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Page 398: Image courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collections.
Acknowledgments
This book could not have been written without the help and wisdom of many scholars, writers, friends, and activists who took the time to educate me, read drafts, point me to resources, and talk about the project.
Heartfelt thanks to Don Fehr, Jessica Case, and Maria Fernandez, for ushering this project through its many phases. I’m especially grateful to Jessica, for your patience and feedback as I worked through this writing process. Thank you for continuing to rally for the book. And to the team at Pegasus for making it into a beautiful object of its own and for helping to send it into the world, thank you.
This book began thanks to Dr. Linda Welters “gifting” me these quilt tops to research and mentoring me in quilt studies. I could never have imagined, when I began, that I’d be here years later, finishing this book. Thank you for reading many drafts, and for trusting me with this story that has changed my life. Thank you also to Dr. Margaret Ordoñez, for crucial insights about the quilt’s fabrics, and Susan Jerome, Collections Manager in the University of Rhode Island’s Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising, and Design, where the quilt tops are held.
I’m indebted to the staff of the Rhode Island Historical Society, the South Carolina Historical Society, and the Carolinas Room at the Charleston Public Library, for your care in preserving these stories, and for your help accessing various collections and documents. I’m also indebted to the historians who educated me on nineteenth century Charleston and enslavement, especially Joseph McGill, who spent time with me in Charleston and in the Midwest and was incredibly patient with my many questions at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. Thank you for teaching me to look for the back staircase and the fingerprints in the bricks. Thank you to Christine Mitchell, who works at Ryan’s Slave Mart Museum in Charleston and showed me where slave agents did business in the neighborhood; I look forward to reading your book one day soon. Dr. Erin Dwyer offered invaluable feedback on several chapters of the book; thank you for your time, expertise, and many suggestions. Keith Stokes and Theresa Guzmán-Stokes, thank you for teaching me more about colonial Newport, the history of Africans and African Americans in Rhode Island, and the ways we can tell stories that offer empowerment. I’m also eternally grateful to Beverly Gordon-Welch; thank you for spending three incredible hours with me, on that difficult day, and for talking through ways to tell Eliza, Minerva, Jane, and Juba Simons’ stories. I’ve been grateful to you every time I sat down to write.
Thank you also to Dr. Matt Haught, for corresponding and providing information on Mary Crouch, printer, and to Dr. Manuel Barcia, for generously offering your expertise on the brick from San Isidro in Trinidad, Cuba. I'm grateful, as well, to Gonzalo Alfredo López Turiño, for your time showing me the sugar plantations in Trinidad. Many heartfelt thanks to Franklin R. Cushman's descendants, Bob Cushman and D.D. Harrington, who sent me information about the family, including Franklin's memoir; it means a great deal to get to speak with the descendants of this story. Thank you for giving me your time and sharing your knowledge of your ancestors with me. Thank you also to Christine Lamar, whose genealogical work helped me find Bob and D.D. My gratitude, also, to Jennifer Rae Taylor, of the Equal Justice Initiative, who gave me her time to discuss the possibility of erecting markers in Newport, Bristol, and South County, Rhode Island. And to Nancy Wagner, Supervisor, of the Charleston Register of Deeds, for the assistance you gave me in tracing documents and seeking existing plots of land in Charleston.
Sarah Nesnow, my thanks to you for helping to trace in South Carolina archives the lives of the enslaved people. And to Sarah Schneider, tremendous thanks for critical help (and patience) transcribing and collating research, and encouraging me when I needed it most. And to Suzie Tibor, for your tireless help tracking down images and permissions.
Dr. Rae Ferguson and Dr. Kendall Moore, my gratitude for your wisdom and mentorship, from start to finish with this project. Thank you for reading drafts and letting me talk through this—among other things—even when you were in the midst of well-deserved down time. I’m eternally grateful to you. Thank you also to Dr. Anne Panning, Dr. Amy Hamilton, Judah Micah-Lamar, Dr. Will Arighi, and Matthew Lansburgh, for generously reading and critiquing drafts, offering your wisdom and keen eyes. And to Dr. Chawne Kimber, for talking with me about the sources of our quilting cotton, years ago.
Thank you to the Millay Colony, where I wrote sections of this project, and to Northern Michigan University, especially Dr. Michael Broadway, for facilitating funding that allowed me to travel for research to South Carolina. To my colleagues at Northern Michigan University who have offered support in a myriad of forms: Emily Lanctot, Matthew Gavin Frank, Dr. Russ Prather, Dr. Caroline Krzakowski, Dr. Norma Froelich, Dr. Sarah Middlefehldt. Dr. Lisa Eckert, Jon and Hilary Billman, and Dr. Lynn Domina, for conversations around the book, and for cultivating a supportive department.
My thanks to the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Humanities, which allowed me my first visit to research in Charleston, and to those scholars at URI who supported me during my research on the quilt tops, especially Dr. Valerie Karno for your enthusiasm and support of this project and all other things textile, Dr. Peter Covino, for your wisdom, support, feedback, and time with many pages of my work as my advisor, and Dr. Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Dr. Nedra Reynolds, and Dr. Jody Lisberger, for your critiques, mentorship, and guidance. Thank you also to Dr. Carolyn Betensky, for offering support throughout my time at URI (and for doting on ‘the beastie’).
To Shana Adams and Shani Gilchrist, my thanks for spending time with me in Charleston and Columbia, for welcoming me to your state and allowing me a glimpse of your friendship, and especially to Shana for allowing me to visit your family home.
I don’t know how to properly thank all the people who supported me throughout the process. Danielle Krcmar, thank you for always being there and for helping me think about images, visual art, and the tactile allure of quilts. Dr. Wendy Farkas, for your friendship and support, and for joining me on the overnight with Joseph McGill’s Slave Dwelling Project. Dr. Anna Brecke, thank you for conversations about domesticity, information about the Victorian era, and countless restorative breaks in our walks around Rhode Island; thank you for our endless dialogue and your many reminders, over the years, to keep my faith in this project. Megan Gannon, thank you for talking through the story and offering your wisdom and feedback on the final drafts, and for giving me deeper roots in the midwest. Nicole Walker, for your workshop, writing, and generosity. To Wendy S. Walters, my thanks for your time sharing your work with my students, and for your encouragement with this research. And to Jericho Brown, Carol Philips, Joy Cardillo, Alissa Kirchharr, Elizabeth Collins, Kristine Granger, and James Veil, for your friendship. And Thea Cawley, for an exceedingly patient ear and endless wisdom and support. To Rebecca Loren, and Alexis Deise, for friendship and lots of laughter as we quilt.
My gratitude to Jenn Scheck-Kahn, for taking time from your own writing to spend so much time with mine, and for countless conversations, which included a great deal of encouragement to keep going. I couldn’t have started nor finished this book without your friendship and feedback. And to Brian, Naomi, and Eli, for the welcoming spirit of family you’ve always offered.
And to my family, especially my parents, and Josh, thank you for the various ways you helped me through this book. You know what they are. Mary May and Becky, thank you for visiting me in these hinterlands, and for always listening and for your encouragement. And to Melissa and Michele and your families, you have my gratitude, always and forever.
AN AMERICAN QUILT
Pegasus Book
s Ltd.
148 W 37th Street, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2018 by Rachel May
First Pegasus Books cloth edition May 2018
Interior design by Maria Fernandez
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher.
Images in the book are used with permission. Reproduction is prohibited without permission from the image rights holders.
Any unattributed photos are copyright of the author and cannot be reproduced without permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN: 978-1-68177-417-6
ISBN: 978-1-68177-478-7 (e-book)
Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company
www.pegasusbooks.us