Harriet Powers

Harriet Powers (October 29, 1837 – January 1, 1910) was an American folk artist and quilter born into slavery in rural northeast Georgia. Powers used traditional appliqué techniques to make quilts that expressed local legends, Bible stories, and astronomical events. Powers married young and had a large family. After the American Civil War and emancipation, she and her husband became landowners by the 1880s, but lost their land due to financial problems.

Only two of her quilts are known to have survived: Bible Quilt 1886 and Pictorial Quilt 1898. Her quilts are considered among the finest examples of nineteenth-century Southern quilting. Her work is on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts

Biography Powers was born into slavery in 1837 near Athens, Georgia. She is believed to have spent her early life on a plantation as an enslaved person, owned by John and Nancy Lester in Madison County and learned to sew from other enslaved persons or from her female enslaver.

Following the American Civil War, the Powerses and their children were emancipated. On the 1870 census they were recorded as having $300 (~$ in ) in personal property, although they did not own land. In terms of occupation, Powers was listed as 'keeping house' and her husband as a 'farmhand.' At this point, three of their children– Amanda, Leon Joe (Alonzo), and Nancy– still lived at home.

By the 1880s Powers and her family owned four acres of land and ran a small farm in Clarke County. In 1886, Powers exhibited her first quilt at the Athens Cotton Fair. about the Cotton States and International Expo described Powers as ignorant and illiterate, learning Bible stories from "others more fortunate", Powers was literate. Quilt historian Kyra E. Hicks discovered a letter written by Powers while conducting research for her book on the quilter: This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Other Pieces (2009). The letter was a copy of an 1896 letter from Powers to a prominent woman from Keokuk, Iowa; it shared insights into Powers's life when she was enslaved, how and when she learned to read and write, and descriptions of at least four of her quilts. Powers wrote that she learned Bible stories through her own study of the book. Her grave was rediscovered in January 2005.

Career Harriet Powers was born on a plantation in Clarke County, Georgia. During this period, skilled seamstresses were uncommon on plantations and highly valued, leading enslavers to place newspaper advertisements seeking enslaved seamstresses with specialized skills. Enslavers often exploited their labor not only to produce clothing for the plantation but also to sell their work for profit. Given that Powers used a sewing machine, it is likely that she was already sewing professionally from a young age, creating quilts and garments.

Powers exhibited her first quilt, The Bible Quilt, in 1886 at the Athens Cotton Fair. and asked to purchase it. Powers refused to sell, but the two women remained in touch. Four years later, Powers, met with financial difficulties and encouraged by her husband to sell, offered to sell the quilt to Smith for ten dollars; Smith agreed but talked the price down to five dollars (~$ in ).

In an 1896 letter, Powers describes a quilt made in about 1882 that she called The Lord's Supper Quilt. Some scenes are given larger panels than others. The quilt has a 'random' quality although the scenes are arranged linearly. She offered to buy it then, but Powers did not want to sell. Four years later Powers returned to Smith, offering to sell the quilt because of her family's needs. She explained the panels to Smith at the time, who recorded her comments. Powers visited the quilt on several occasions while Smith owned it, demonstrating its special significance in her life. These plans for foreign reproductions and sales raised great controversy.

When the first reproductions appeared in Spiegel catalogue for purchase, many Americans were shocked. The quilting and arts community, particularly The National Quilting Association and Maryland's Four County Quilt Guild, were extremely upset by these reproduction efforts.

They believed that it was disrespectful to make money off the Bible Quilt and other similar works without exploring who might own the familial rights to the work and who could receive some of the royalties from its reproduction. The quilting and arts community were also concerned that the mass reproduction of these unique, timeless quilts would not only dampen the significance of their makers, but obscure the important origins of their place in American history. These groups believed strongly that, if reproductions were going to be made, they should be produced by American quilting companies to help support the craft in the U.S.

Many felt so passionately about this cause that they canceled their Smithsonian memberships, contacted their congressmen, signed petitions, and protested on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Based on these responses, the Smithsonian Institution made several changes to their reproduction project. They had "Copyright 1992 Smithsonian Institution" printed on every quilt to avoid confusion. They agreed to prohibit sale of quilt reproductions in museum gift shops or any type of catalogue, and contracted for quilt reproductions with two domestic companies, Cabin Creek Quilters in Appalachia and Missouri Breaks, a group based on the Lakota Sioux reservation. To prevent such controversies in the future, the Smithsonian additionally began to hold public forums that fostered discussion and further research about ethical practices as related to artistic reproductions.

Pictorial Quilt 1898

The Pictorial Quilt (measuring ), completed in 1889, is also constructed from cotton and made using appliqué techniques. There 15 equally sized panels, or squares, arranged in three rows of five. There are 10 biblical images, four historical scenes, and a morality lesson. The scenes are not arranged sequentially, but are randomly placed mixing both biblical and historical scenes.

Panel 13 is the morality lesson and depicts two rich people who were given everlasting punishment for knowing nothing of God. The panel also shows a hog said to have walked from Georgia to Virginia. Hall treasured the quilt, displaying it prominently on a wall in his home, Synton House. Unlike traditional quilts made for everyday use, Pictorial Quilt II was designed solely for display, meant to be viewed from a single side. His son Reverend Basil Douglas Hall (1888 - 1979) inherited it about 1961.

Collectors Maxim and Martha Karolik purchased the work in 1964, donating it to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in a bequest. It is displayed there. Another panel illustrates the 'dark day' May 19, 1780 (now identified as a historically dense smoke over North America caused by Canadian Wildfires).

Other analysts have suggested that Powers' interest in celestial bodies was related to a belief in their religious significance, or that they were related to a fraternal organization of some sort. Her interpretations of both quilts have survived in writings by others. The result may have been influenced by the people recording her comments. Researchers have learned that Powers was literate, but she might also have used her quilts as teaching tools, as many people in her community were likely unable to read.

Death, burial and memorial Powers, "an aged Negro woman who held the esteem of many Athens people," according to her death notice in the Athens Banner, died January 1, 1910, of pneumonia and was buried at the local African American resting place, Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery in Athens. In 2005, University of Georgia graduate student Cat Holmes rediscovered the joint headstone for Powers and her husband, Armsted, which over the years had been obscured by overgrown vegetation. The marker held the couple's name and was about and "seems to have been erected by Powers' youngest son, Marshall", whose name was at the top of the headstone.

Ribbon wreath at Harriet Powers grave site. Laid Oct 31 2010.thumb Harriet and Armstead Powers headstone back side of memorial.

Posthumous honors

In 2009, Powers was inducted into the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame.

In October 2010, organizations in Athens, Georgia, produced several events related to the theme "Hands That Can Do: A Centennial Celebration of Harriet Powers." The events included a quilt exhibit, storytelling, a gospel concert, a symposium, a commemorative church service at New Grove Baptist Church in Winterville, and visit to the Powers grave site.

Athens-Clarke County Mayor Heidi Davison issued a proclamation naming October 30, 2010, as Harriet Powers Day.

A set of four postage stamps was issued by the United States Postal Service in February 2026, honoring Powers and featuring elements from her 1898 Pictorial Quilt.

In popular culture

Children's literature Fader, Ellen. (March 1, 1994). "Stitching Stars: The Story Quilts of Harriet Powers", The Horn Book Magazine. Vol. 70, no. 2, p. 219(2). Herkert, Barbara, and Vanessa Brantley-Newton (illustrator). Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers' Journey From Slave To Artist. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2015. Lyons, Mary E. Stitching Stars: The Story Quilts of Harriet Powers. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1997.

Quilt patterns Powers, Harriet. A Pattern Book: Based on an Appliqué Quilt by Mrs. Harriet Powers, American, 19th Century. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1970. Perry, Regenia. Harriet Powers's Bible Quilts. New York: Rizzoli International, 1994. Hicks, Kyra E. The Lord's Supper Pattern Book: Imagining Harriet Powers' Lost Bible Story Quilt. Arlington: Black Threads Press, 2011.

Theater

Cavalieri, Grace. Quilting the Sun. commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution and Visual Press of the University of Maryland, 2000. First performed in New York City (2002) by the Xoregos Performing Company.