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Copy of In Honor of Dr. King

Greetings All You Mavens of Cloth,

I hope you enjoyed a long, creative, holiday weekend, and were able to soak in the spirit of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in some way, shape, or form. I mentioned that this week's blog post would be dedicated to Lady Liberty in the run up to the inauguration. But I failed to factor for the MLK holiday at the time.  So, I'd like this post to pay homage to Dr. King. And that's what it's going to do (blogs are nice this way: you really can be the queen of your own domain).

So, Lady Liberty will be on-hand next week, with some truly wonderful examples of her influence stitched in cloth, along with a feature on the upcoming Million Women March in D.C. (this Saturday, January 21), and marches happening in sister-cities across the U.S. that same day. 

In the meantime, enjoy this collection of art in honor of Dr. King. And a few other quilt-related gems in solidarity with and celebration of our African American brothers and sisters. 

See you on the way to the mountaintop.

A-

In Honor of Dr. King

"All we say to America is, 'Be true to what you said on paper.' If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop."

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from his "Mountaintop Speech," delivered April 3, 1968, Mason Temple, Memphis, TN.

Two Artists: One in Her own Words, The Other in Cloth

Quilt Meaning, Making, Metaphors, and Murals

One Final Note:

For anyone who missed the opportunity to reflect on Dr. King yesterday, I recommend meditating on this thought provoking episode, "

The Spirituality of Peacemaking," produced by PRX, as part of their series, The Power of Non-Violence. It aired yesterday on my local NPR station. And I was so grateful to find myself at home hand-quilting an old top when it came on. The act of stitching while listening to people speak on the transformative power of what Dr. King referred to as SoulForce, was nothing short of a gift.

  Banner Image: The New Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. 

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