This beautifully illustrated book pays tribute to the quilt makers of Gee's Bend, a small African American community in Alabama where descendants of plantation workers from the time of slavery, pass down a craft tradition from generation to generation. A tradition rooted in frugality and resourcefulness, where scraps of cloth were salvaged and re-worked into useful articles, it was
also a medium of high artistry, and the quilts have since been acclaimed as works of art and displayed in major museums. Pictures of individual quilts are juxtaposed with archive and contemporary photographs whilst the text combines social history with first person anecdotes telling how events such as the civil rights movement impacted on their lives, and occasionally on their quilts, with one notable example incorporating many repetitions of the word 'vote'. An afterword gives simple instructions on making a quilt.