1847**HARRIET POWERS**1910

The quilt on the right is the second known applique' quilt made by Mrs. Harriet Powers who was born enslaved near Athens, Georgia. It was commissioned for the faculty wives at Atlanta University about 1886. Owned by the Boston (MA) Museum of Fine Arts, this quilt - considered to be one of the most significant quilts in the world - was on loan to The Atlanta History Center (GA) April 9-June 13, 1999. As a part of the Georgia Quilts: Piecing Together History Exhibition, this was the first time that it had been in Georgia in more than 100 years. Her other quilt is in the collection of The Smithsonian.

My quilt pays homage to Harriet Powers. The depiction of her is based on a surviving photograph(see top of page). I attempted to make the quilt that she is holding an accurate reproduction of her machine appliqued original by closely matching fabrics, including embroidered embellishments in metallic and non-metallic thread. Special attention was given to the numerous celestial symbols which seem to have been so important to Mrs. Powers. While I hand-appliqued the likeness of Mrs. Powers, I felt obligated to follow her lead and machine applique "her" quilt. (I was surprised to learn that the sewing machine was invented by a Frenchman in the 1830s. In 1851, Isaac Singer introduced the first machine scaled for home use.)

My creation was a part of the A Communion of the Spirits:African-American Quilters, Preservers, and Their Stories Exhibition from its opening at the Mississippi Museum of Art in January 1997. This groundbreaking exhibition was based on the book by photojournalist/documentarian/curator, Roland L. Freeman. Continuously booked in venues across the country through August, 2001, it was seen at the Mississippi Museum of Art (Jackson, MS); National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, TN); The African American Museum (Detroit, MI); The Atlanta History Center (Atlanta, GA); Smithsonian Institution -Arts and Industries Museum (Washington, D.C.); The Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing/Cultural Arts Complex (Columbus, OH); the Hampton University Museum (Hampton, VA); San Diego Historical Society (San Diego, CA); The Buffalo Museum of Science (Buffalo, NY); The Gibbes Museum of Art (Charleston, SC) and The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA).

I saw Harriet Powers' quilt in Atlanta on May 15, 1999 and was not emotionally prepared for how successful I had been in shopping for fabrics. Although I always shopped with an 11"x17" picture of the quilt (Harriet Powers' Bible Quilts by Dr. Regenia A. Perry), I did not realize how well it had been captured. Some of the stripes, checks, and prints were almost identical.

I cannot describe how it felt to actually see Powers' quilt. It is truly an unforgettable experience!

The top half of my quilt is bordered by her dictated explanation of each of the fifteen scenes which indicate Biblical stories, local legends, and astrological events.

Square 4--"Adam and Eve in the Garden. Eve tempted by the serpent. Adam's rib with which Eve was made. The sun and moon. God's all-seeing eye and God's merciful hand."

Square 15--"The crucifixion of Christ between the two thieves. The sun went into darkness. Mary and Martha weeping at His feet. The blood and water ran from His right side."

Powers' quilt recorded complex cosmological and climatological phenomena. Much research has documented her claims.

For example, she stated re: Square 2, "The dark day of May 19, 1780. The seven stars were seen at 12N in the day. The cattle all went to bed, chickens to roost and the trumpet was blown. The sun went off to a small spot and then to darkness."

Climatological documentation indicates that the dark day of May 19, 1780, was the result of the atmosphere's pollution with smoke from forest fires in New England. Known as Black Friday, that day was so spectacular that word circulated throughout the United States. As it occurred before Powers was born, she must have learned of it through oral tradition.

Re: Square 8 she stated, "The falling of the stars on November 13, 1833. The people were fright[sic] and thought that the end of time had come. God's hand staid the stars. The varmits rushed out of their beds."

Numerous eyewitness accounts exist for the famous Leonid meteor storm of 1833, which produced a dramatic display of shooting stars for eight hours. This was four years before her birth. Accounts of this famous meteor storm were handed down for generations and even became a time-fixing device for determining important events.

She stated re: Square 12, "The red light night of 1846. A man tolling a bell to notify the people of the wonder. Women, children, and fowls frightened but God's merciful hand caused no harm to them."

It is documented that a succession of meteor showers, falling thickly together, were visible on August 10 and 11, 1846. Powers was only eight years old at the time of this event.

An exciting find on Christmas Eve,2004 by Cat Holmes, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia (Athens) has given new evidence of birth and death dates for Mrs. Powers. Ms. Holmes located the historic Powers gravesite in Athen's Pilgrim Cemetery off Fourth Street. The headstone states that she died on January 1,1910 at the age of 62, not in 1911 as has been previously reported. The age also changes the originally reported 1837 birth date. Her death on the first day of 1910 indicates that, unless she died on the date of her birth, she was born in 1847.

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