Pattern to Joseph’s Coat, ca. late 1960s

Piecers: Lucy Mingo (b. 1931) and Nell Hall Williams (1933–2021) Quilters: Ella Mae Irby (1923–2001), Doll James (b. 1941), and Sam Square (1945–1997)
Cotton

The Freedom Quilting Bee was a quilting cooperative based in the community of Alberta, Alabama, thirty miles from Selma, in Wilcox County. The collective, born during the civil rights movement, is recognized for having prompted a nationwide quilting revival; it counts among its members the piecer and activist Lucy Mingo, a major spokesperson and teacher in the Gee’s Bend quilting community. The cooperative belongs to a long history of alternative, communal economic work performed by Black Americans. The Bee quilts were typically stitched from scraps of cloth according to patterns—such as “Roman Cross,” “Pine Burr,” and “Chestnut Bud”—that were reflective of the history of Black quilting in the area. Quilters usually learned the craft from a mother or grandmother. The “Coat of Many Colors,” or “Joseph’s Coat,” pattern was named for the biblical story of Joseph. Membership in the Bee dwindled in the 1990s. Then, in September 2004, Hurricane Ivan damaged the Bee’s workplace since 1969, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Sewing Center, causing the handful of remaining quilters to convene in the living room of the Bee’s manager. In 2012, a year after the last original board member died, the Bee officially closed.