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Congressional Daily Record
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October 1, 2026
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Extensions of Remarks
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Download official Extensions PDFReturn to issue contextHON. TERRI A. SEWELL
of alabama
in the house of representatives
Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary women of Gee's Bend, Alabama, whose remarkable quiltmaking tradition has become an enduring part of our Nation's artistic and cultural heritage.
19th century, born out of a need to keep warm in unheated homes during the winter months. Using worn clothing, discarded textiles, flour and feed sacks, and other available materials, the women of Gee's Bend created quilts that provided warmth and comfort while carrying the stories of their families and community.
inventive compositions, asymmetry, and improvisational designs. Known locally as “my way” quilts, many Gee's Bend quiltmakers start with basic forms and then follow their own individual artistic paths (“their way”) to create unexpected patterns, shapes, and colors. This unique aesthetic tradition was passed from generation to generation, enduring through slavery, the antebellum South, and Jim Crow, and continues to be used by the quilters of Gee's Bend today.
economic independence for the women of Wilcox County, in 1966, more than 60 quilters from Gee's Bend, Alberta, and surrounding communities met in Camden's Antioch Baptist Church to found the Freedom Quilting Bee (FBQ). As one of the few Black women's cooperatives in the United States, the Freedom Quilting Bee quickly grew into a robust organization, landing contracts with New York decorators and Bloomindale's to produce made-to order quilts, helping to inspire a national revival of interest in patchwork.
square-foot sewing center, allowing it to expand its offerings to include direct-to-consumer sales. The new building also allowed the Freedom Quilting Bee to extend and offer its members and surrounding communities other tyles of services, such as daycare, an after-school tutoring program, and a summer reading program. At its height, the Freedom Quilting Bee had 150 members, making it one of the largest employers in the area.
of a physical need for warmth, their craft reinvented an artform and their work has come to be recognized more broadly as one of the most significant artistic contributions to American art history. Today, Gee's Bend quilts are in the permanent collections of over 40 museums on three continents. Yet their importance cannot be measured solely by their place in galleries or museums. These quilts remain deeply connected to the people, families, and communities of the Alabama Blackbelt from which they came.
woven not only through famous events and public monuments, but also through the hands of ordinary people whose creativity, determination, and traditions endure across generations.
colleagues to join me in recognizing and honoring the quiltmakers of Gee's Bend, Alabama, for their extraordinary contributions to American art, history, and culture. May their work continue to inspire generations to come,