Book cover of “This I Accomplish …”
This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers’ Bible Quilt and Other Pieces by Kyra E. Hicks (Black Threads Press, 2009) is a hot-off-the-press, 180 page book. Bill Gaskins wrote the Foreword. The author chronicles activities surrounding the quilts of Harriet Powers (1837-1910), a former Georgia slave. The two appliquéd quilts Powers made are currently held by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. As mentioned on the back cover, Hicks tracks two nineteenth century women who sought to buy the Bible quilt, and offers the profiles of three men who actually owned the Pictorial Quilt.
Many of the facts revealed are newly-discovered, by the author, and appear in her book for the first time. This new information will be a welcomed resource to the libraries of every quilt historian. For those who have always wanted to know the full history of these quilts, to the present time, information is given as to where they have been exhibited, who has written about them, who has mentioned them in lectures, and more! This scholar provides almost 200 bibliographic references, most of them annotated. Derivative works, such as poetry, and photos of quilts made in honor of Harriet Powers are included, and serve as a fun treat.
This is an amazing compendium of factual data surrounding the making and the keeping of the two Powers’ quilts. Congratulations to Kyra E. Hicks for her thorough research of the works of Harriet Powers, a very important African-American woman who once sold one of these quilts to a white woman named Jennie Smith, receiving only $5.00 in compensation.
This book is long overdue and is a wonderful tribute to a now much beloved American quilter. If you are already thinking ahead to Christmas, this book would be a nice one to add to your wish list. But, why wait? You may just want to order a copy now, for summer reading! Already, Kyra Hicks, a veteran writer, is hard at work on her next book, another related to African-American quilting! Quilter’s Muse gives this current effort a two-thumbs up!
ISBN: 987-0-9824796-5-0
Be sure to read Kyra Hick’s blog that she frequently updates:
http://blackthreads.blogspot.com
As an aside, let me add that, for a time in the early 1990s, the Smithsonian licensed reproductions of the Harriet Powers’ Bible quilt to be manufactured overseas. I turned my nose up at one of these reproduction quilts at Sam’s Club. I did not want to pay even $19.99 for the poorly-made quilt that featured about two stitches per inch of hand-quilted stitches. The price was low enough: $19.99. Even with the poor workmanship, the quilts quickly sold out. Under pressure from American quilters who actively fought the Smithsonian policies, the overseas reproduction of our American treasures soon ceased.
See images of Harriet Powers and her quilts here.
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications
Tags: Bible Quilt, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Harriet Powers, Kyra Hicks, Pictorial Quilt, Smithsonian, This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Othe
Pat, great review. As to you aside, I had to giggle. An outraged friend called me regarding those reproduction. As a “Black” quilter I had to be really upset. Nah! I quietly ask her who was selling them. After she told me I immediately called Spiegels and ordered one. I have been making quilts for all my son’s life. As matter of fact, he had a quilt on his bed that the blocks had been made by his great grand mother, I put it together and his grandmother quilted it. He commented on the Harriet powers quilt, I told him the story of the quilt. Imagine my surprise when I heard him sharing THAT story with a friend. It was worth the cost. I have enjoyed having it and I know I could never own the real thing. I think of it in terms of owning a Monet print.