Baby Quilt

Hand sewn by Effie Bates Cooper (1929-2006), this baby quilt features eight-four squares, each with a nine-patch block “on point,” or angled like a diamond, on a field of pale yellow. In rows of light green, tangerine, and baby blue, Cooper constructs nine-patch blocks symmetrically, with four squares of solid fabric and five in checked gingham. Green blocks line the exterior rows with orange and blue alternating within the green borders. The quilt’s backing is made of undyed cotton muslin, which wraps around to form the front border. The quilt dates to 1987, about ten years after photographer Roland L. Freeman began documenting African American quilting traditions in the Mississippi Delta, home to Cooper and her friend Emma Russell (1909-2004). Russell shared her knowledge of quiltmaking and entrepreneurship with Cooper, and the women became business partners, selling their respective quilts at a time of high demand for African American-made quilts. The baby quilt was on display along with quilts by Russell and her sister, Annie Dennis (1904-1997), in Home Sewn: Quilts from the Lower Mississippi Valley, an exhibition held at the Anacostia Community Museum from December 2013 to February 2015.