Quilts as Monuments: Sew Their Names

Perhaps it was the AIDS Quilt that redefined what a monument could look like and who could create it. Or maybe it was the quilters of Gee’s Bend or the Freedom Quilting Circle in Alabama, taking the scraps of their lives — old military camo uniforms, overalls, flour sacks — honoring the living and the dead. Quilts as monuments, memorials, large and small, stretch far back into our American story.

Monuments are a contentious issue these days in the South and beyond. But right now, in Alabama, the Sew Their Names Project — some 20 quilters, a reverend, and a judge — are bringing unlikely collaborations together to embroider the names of hundreds of forgotten people who were once enslaved. Creating quilts that record and tell.

Yvonne Wells with her quilt “Worshippers at Mt. Willing Church”

Quilts As Monuments: Sew Their Names was produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson), with Nathan Dalton, Brandi Howell, Martha Ham and Laura Folger. Mixed by Jim McKee. With thanks to Charles Prentiss, Jo Aribas and Robb Moss.

Produced in collaboration with The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University where the  Sew Their Names Exhibit: Quilting, Creativity and Activism is on display July 11, 2026.

“Somebody’s Calling My Name” by Wini McQueen

“Oh Freedom” by Mercedes Braxton

Sew Their Names quilt by Charlie Lucas

The Mount Willing Quilters. Photos by Jon Cook

Special Thanks To:

Reverend Dale Braxton, Pastor of Snow Hill Christian Church, Mt. Willing, Alabama

Judge Susan Russ Walker, author of The Sew Their Names Quilt Project, Lowndes County, Alabama

Mt. Willing Quilters and Singers: Dale & Mercedes Braxton, Bessie Mae Brooks, Donald Carter, Minister Mary Godfrey, Arwilda Goldsmith, Doris Hayes, Mary Hayes, Fannie Ingram, Rebecca McMeans, Paulette Miller, Gloria Reed, Mattie Bell Robinson, Bettie Rudolph, Bircher Shanks, Vera Shanks, Maxine Similton, Mary Smith, Annie Stiles and Floretta Timmons

Commissioned Quilters: Yvonne Wells, Charlie Lucas, Mercedes Braxton and Wini McQueen.

Staff of the Jules Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts at Auburn University: Cindi Malinick, Executive Director; Chris Molinski, Janet L. Nolan Director of Curatorial & Educational Affair; Charlotte Hendrix, Director of Communications & External Relations; Jessica Hughes, Assistant Directorv of Curatorial Affairs; Christy Barlow, Assistant Director of Education, Engagement  & Learning; Mike Cortez, Information Technology Specialist; Brackin Bankston, Multimedia Specialist; Tiffany Spry, Visitor Services Manager; Isaac Sabelhaus, Administrative Support Specialist; James Brown, Building Operations Co-ordinator

Thanks also to: Mallory Morgan, Attorney, Sew Their Names Assistant Project Director; Carroll Van West, Tennessee State Historian & Director for Historic Preservation, Middle Tennessee State University; Ebony Howard, Executive Director, Wallace Center for Arts and Reconciliation; Lyndsay Dyees, Director of Arts and Education Director, Shelby County Arts Council; Gail Andrews, Director Emerita, Birmingham Museum of Art; Randi Evans, Associate Curator of Programs, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle; Joey Brackner, Former Director of the Folklife Program of the Alabama State Council on the Arts,Retired Alabama State Folklorist; Stacy Morgan, Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies, University of Alabama, co-author of  The Story Quilts of Yvonne Wells; Micky Beth Stiller, Director, Cotton Belt Gallery; Elijah Gaddis, Hollifield Associate Professor of Souther History, Auburn University; Sarah Wool, website designer; Sara Wood Smith, Independent Consultant; Leslie Umberger, Curator of Folk & Self-Taught Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Sew Their Names Project is made possible by grants from The Black Belt Community Foundation, the Alabama Humanities Alliance, The Alabama State Council on the Arts, and the Central Alabama Community Foundation. Research support for the project was provided by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University.

And thanks to Natalie Chanin and Project Threadways who introduced us to this story.

Audio Sources:

Emily Blejwas, Director of Alabama Folklife Association and producer of the podcast Alabama Folk  

Josh Carpels, Terrible Masters Films, Sew Their Names is streaming for free here.

Beth McGinnis, Associate Professor of Musicology, Samford University, and producer of Hear in Alabama

Interviews recorded at the Auburn Forum for Art and Southern Culture, February 7, 2026, presented by The Jule

Funding Support:

The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University with support from Art Dealers Association of America Foundation, The Millie & Andy Gosch “Silver Dollar” Endowed Fund for Excellence and The Betty Coston Lassen ‘54 Endowed Fund for Excellence in Education.

The Robert Sillins Family Foundation

Contributors to The Kitchen Sisters Sisters Productions

For more information about Sew Their Names visit The Hopewell Project.

The Kitchen Sisters Present is part of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, handcrafted, artist-owned podcasts that widen your world. Thanks for listening. And thanks for subscribing.