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‘A way we resist’: Quilts honour victims of racial violence

Published:Sunday | December 19, 2021 | 12:12 AMLeah Willingham - Associated Press/Report for America
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A section of two hand crafted quilts adorned with more than 115 cross-stitched portraits honouring African Americans who lost their lives to racial violence, is photographed while on display at the Margaret Walker Center on the Jackson State University cam
AP
A section of two hand crafted quilts adorned with more than 115 cross-stitched portraits honouring African Americans who lost their lives to racial violence, is photographed while on display at the Margaret Walker Center on the Jackson State University campus, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. The quilts, stitched together by 75 artists from the U.S. and beyond, are part of the Stitch Their Name Memorial Project. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Gloria Green-McCray, right, sister of James Earl Green, who along with Phillip Lafayette Gibbs was killed by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen in 1970 on the campus of Jackson State University, discusses the importance quilting plays in the African American co
AP
Gloria Green-McCray, right, sister of James Earl Green, who along with Phillip Lafayette Gibbs was killed by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen in 1970 on the campus of Jackson State University, discusses the importance quilting plays in the African American community with Ebony Lumumba, left, department chair and associate professor of English at Jackson State, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. A cross-stitch portrait of Green is now included with 115 others in the Stitch Their Names Memorial Project, dedicated to memorialising lives lost to racial violence in the U.S. The two quilts are open for public viewing on weekdays through Dec. 17 at Jackson State University’s Margaret Walker Center. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Gloria Green-McCray, sister of James Earl Green, who along with Phillip Lafayette Gibbs was killed by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen in 1970 on the campus of Jackson State University, points out the cross stitched portrait of her brother wearing his high sc
AP
Gloria Green-McCray, sister of James Earl Green, who along with Phillip Lafayette Gibbs was killed by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen in 1970 on the campus of Jackson State University, points out the cross stitched portrait of her brother wearing his high school colours on one of the quilts on exhibit at the school, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. Two hand crafted quilts stitched together by 75 artists from the U.S. and beyond that feature more than 115 cross-stitched portraits honouring African Americans who lost their lives to racial violence, are part of the Stitch Their Name Memorial Project, on display at the university’s Margaret Walker Center. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
A portrait of the late George Floyd is among the 116 cross-stitched images adorning one of two hand crafted quilts honouring African Americans who lost their lives to racial violence, as part of the Stitch Their Name Memorial Project, on display at the Mar
AP
A portrait of the late George Floyd is among the 116 cross-stitched images adorning one of two hand crafted quilts honouring African Americans who lost their lives to racial violence, as part of the Stitch Their Name Memorial Project, on display at the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Ebony Lumumba, department chair and associate professor of English at Jackson State, uses a cell phone to photograph the cross stitched image of Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, who along with James Earl Green was killed by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen in 1970 on
AP
Ebony Lumumba, department chair and associate professor of English at Jackson State, uses a cell phone to photograph the cross stitched image of Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, who along with James Earl Green was killed by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen in 1970 on the campus of the university, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. The image is on one of two hand crafted quilts adorned with 116 cross-stitched portraits honouring African Americans who lost their lives to racial violence, as part of the Stitch Their Name Memorial Project, on display at the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State.
Ebony Lumumba, department chair and associate professor of English at Jackson State, outlines the importance quilting plays in the African American community, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. Two hand crafted quilts stitched together by 75 artists
AP
Ebony Lumumba, department chair and associate professor of English at Jackson State, outlines the importance quilting plays in the African American community, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. Two hand crafted quilts stitched together by 75 artists from the U.S. and beyond that feature more than 115 cross-stitched portraits honouring African Americans who lost their lives to racial violence, are part of the Stitch Their Name Memorial Project, on display at the university’s Margaret Walker Center. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Two hand crafted quilts adorned with 116 cross-stitched portraits honouring African Americans who lost their lives to racial violence are photographed while on display at the Margaret Walker Center on the Jackson State University campus, Tuesday, Nov. 30,
AP
Two hand crafted quilts adorned with 116 cross-stitched portraits honouring African Americans who lost their lives to racial violence are photographed while on display at the Margaret Walker Center on the Jackson State University campus, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. The quilts, stitched together by 75 artists from the U.S. and beyond, are part of the Stitch Their Name Memorial Project. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Gloria Green-McCray, the younger sister of James Earl Green, who along with Phillip Lafayette Gibbs were killed by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen in 1970 on the campus of Jackson State, reacts to viewing a section of one of two hand crafted quilts adorned
AP
Gloria Green-McCray, the younger sister of James Earl Green, who along with Phillip Lafayette Gibbs were killed by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen in 1970 on the campus of Jackson State, reacts to viewing a section of one of two hand crafted quilts adorned with more than 115 cross-stitched portraits honouring African Americans who lost their lives to racial violence, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, on the university’s campus in Jackson, Miss. The quilts are part of the Stitch Their Name Memorial Project, on display at the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State.
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Long after he was killed, Myrtle Green-Burton wouldn’t let anyone wear her 17-year-old son’s high school track team jacket. James Earl Green, an aspiring Olympic runner, was supposed to receive the green and yellow coat at his graduation in Mississippi half a century ago. It became a symbol of his life — and her loss, said his sister Gloria Green-McCray.

“She just kept it until it dry-rotted because that was all she really had to remember his dream – his vision,” Green-McCray said of her mother.

A cross-stitch portrait of Green wearing his track jacket is now included with 115 others in a quilting project dedicated to memorialising lives lost to racial violence in the US The two quilts are open for public viewing on weekdays through December 17 at Jackson State University’s Margaret Walker Center.

James Earl Green and 21-year-old Jackson State student Phillip Lafayette Gibbs were fatally shot on the Jackson State campus during a violent police response to a protest against racial injustice in 1970. Green was not a student at the historically black university but was walking through the campus on his way home from his grocery store job.

Twelve more people were injured. No officer ever faced criminal charges.

On a visit to Jackson State’s campus last week to see the portrait, Green-McCray, now in her late 60s, recalled her older brother’s ambitions of running in college and then in the Olympics. In the weeks leading up to his death, graduating and getting that track jacket were all he could talk about, she said.

“He didn’t get the chance to wear it,” she said, reaching out and running her finger across the tiny portrait.

The Stitch Their Names Memorial Project was started by Eugene, Oregon, high school math teacher Holli Johannes in July 2020 as so many around the US reckoned with the country’s legacy of systematic racism in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police. A group of 75 stitchers from across the US and beyond worked together to construct the two quilts and a website containing biographies of each victim.

HUMANISE THE LIVES

Johannes said they wanted to create a piece of art that would humanise the lives lost.

Each stitcher took a different, personalised approach: some portraits are headshots, some full-body. They include different backdrops and details to inform viewers about the victims’ lives.

Elijah McClain, 23, a massage therapist killed by police in Aurora, Colorado, in 2019, is pictured playing the violin next to a tabby cat. McClain loved animals and taught himself how to play the guitar and violin.

John Crawford III, 22, was killed by police inside a Beavercreek, Ohio, Walmart store in 2014. He is depicted with his two young sons.

Gibbs — killed in Jackson the same night as Green — is wearing a gray suit. He was studying to be a lawyer.

Ebony Lumumba, department chair and associate professor of English at Jackson State, said quilting has long been a powerful form of activism and of reclaiming history — especially for Black women in America, whose voices are often overlooked.

“It’s a history that sometimes supersedes what can be written down,” said Lumumba, who is also the city of Jackson’s first lady. “That’s significant for our community because we have been denied the privilege of being documented for so many centuries and so this is one of the ways that we resist that.”

At Jackson State, Green-McCray said she hadn’t seen a quilt made since she was a little girl — the ones stitched by the women who raised her. She remembered how quilting was a form of storytelling for them. Her mother would piece together quilts using pieces of aprons, hats, and dresses from her grandmother.

“Each little piece represents something — each piece had a significant meaning,” she said. “It was not just a piece of cloth, but it was a piece of history, a piece of that person.”

Green-McCray said the quilts would evoke memories, even of a time before she was born — a reminder of “the struggle of survival”.

“It’s like you relive it,” she said. “My mother came from a family of sharecroppers, old slaves, and I can remember the history.”

Green-McCray said if people don’t learn about history, it repeats itself. When her brother was killed, everyone asked her, “’Do you think this will ever happen again?’”

“At that time, we was thinking it was going to soon end, and it will never happen again,” she said. “Now today, you see them saying ‘Black Lives Matter,’ and that really grieves my spirit. We’ve come a long way, but we still got such a long way to go.”

Leah Willingham is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service programme that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.