Checkerboard Quilt

This quilt’s bright colors emerge in sixteen-patch square blocks bordered on one side by eight-patch square blocks and a single column of a yellow floral calico. Orange hues stand out among the quilt’s 224 squares arranged in a checkerboard pattern. Other prominent colors include vivid greens, yellows, pinks, blues, reds, and lavender. Stripes, florals, and other prints outnumber solids. The quilt’s orange striped backing folds around to the front to act as a binding. Comprised of cotton, polyester, and cotton-polyester blends, the quilt is both hand and machine sewn. It is one of four quilts from the Sherry Sherrod DuPree Collection (acma-06-041), which documents the history of African American Holiness and Pentecostal movements (2003.0018.0002, 2003.0018.0004, 2003.0018.0005). It might have been used by gospel music groups on concert tours.