The Mississippi Panel Exhibit was developed from Roland Freeman’s acclaimed exhibit “A Communion of the Spirits: African American Quilters, Preservers, and Their Stories.”
The exhibit covers quilters from Tupelo to Natchez, from Clarksdale to Hattiesburg – as well as extensive documentation of the Johnson family, Phoeba and her daughters, Annie Dennis and Emma Russell, fourth and fifth quilting generations; of master quilter Hystercine Rankin, including quilts and stories linking pre- and post-slavery family history; of the quilters of several Mississippi Heartlands counties; and, of two quilting networks, the Tutwiler Quilters and Crossroads Quilters.
The panels contain photographs of the quilters and preservers with their quilts, usually at home with family, photographs, and memorabilia, along with explanatory and interpretive material.
Roland L. Freeman, founder and president of The Group for Cultural Documentation, is a freelance photographer whose work has been published widely and exhibited throughout the world.