African-Canadian history told in quilt exhibit at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum
Mary C. Kenessey
Black History Month is saluted at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum by a special exhibition entitled “Stitching Community: African-Canadian Quilts from Southern Ontario.”
On view until Sept. 6, in the ROM’s Sigmund Samuel Gallery, the exhibit is a treasure trove of early Canadiana. This select grouping of quilts, which dates from 1848, also marks a unique period in Canada’s Black History.
In the early 1800s, Irish-born William King, later to become the Rev. King of the Presbyterian Church, married into a wealthy slave holding Southern family. Appalled by the slavery he witnessed, King, together with members of the abolitionist Elgin Society of Canada, secured 9,000 acres in Buxton, a village just across the Canadian border. In 1849, he settled 15 former slaves, seven of them women, in the village that rapidly grew into a successful and thriving haven of safety and new beginnings for nearly 2,000 freed and runaway slaves.
Many of the female slaves in the great houses of the South had been responsible for the stitching of linens and for weaving. They brought these skills with them and, as their little community grew, found comfort and fulfillment in sharing their experiences while working together in sewing circles. The making of quilts proved the perfect outlet for their emotions as they literally stitched their community into the patterns.
From 1848 is the traditional “Nine Patch Quilt” crafted by one of the first women brought to freedom by King. Upon close examination, one can only marvel at the miniscule stitches and intricate patterning of the quilt’s white background.
The log cabin motif is displayed in another quilt, again with the smallest of stitches. In 1884, Julia Ann Doo poured her feelings into a “Signature” quilt covered with embroidered quotations, including “I hope,” together with her personalized “Julia Doo” signature.
The quilting tradition continued through the years as is seen in a “Busy Bee” quilt dating from 1924, featuring bee motifs together with the proudly embroidered names of generous donors to their community. And a brightly colored flower quilt is the 1940s work of Mary Howard, whose son became the first black head of the United Church in Canada.
A video presentation offers interviews with quilt makers and researchers, many of whom are descendants of those first settlers and still residing in Buxton, along with insights into how they acquired their skills.
This fascinating collection of quilts, photographic memorabilia, tools of the trade and charming little cloth dolls is jointly presented by the Buxton Museum and the Ontario Black History Society.
It is a fitting tribute to, and reminder of, the courage and endurance of those men and women who broke their chains of slavery to find freedom for themselves and their children.
Mary C. Kenessey is a freelance writer based in Toronto.
Source: http://rocnow.com/article/living/20102210320
If you go
What: Stitching Community: African-Canadian Quilts from Southern Ontario.
When: Until Sept. 6; Saturday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 a.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Where: Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Par at Bloor St. W. and Avenue Road, Toronto (Museum or St. George subway stops).
Cost: $22 Canadian ($19 students and seniors, $15 children over 3); half-price after 4:30 p.m. Friday.
For information: (416) 586-8000; www.rom.on.ca.
