Martha Ann Erskine Ricks

Martha Ann Harris Ricks (born Erskine, c. 1817–1901), also called Aunt Martha in her community, was an Americo-Liberian woman among the early colonists to the Colony of Liberia. Born into slavery in Tennessee, she was freed by her father, George Erskine and emigrated at age 13 with him and her family to Liberia in 1830.

While chiefly working in agriculture there, Ricks also was known for her needlework and became an expert quilter. She became interested in Queen Victoria and worked for more than two decades on a quilt to deliver to her. In 1892 Ricks traveled with former First Lady Jane Roberts to England, where she received a royal audience with Queen Victoria and personally presented her the quilt.

Life Martha Ann was born into slavery in Tennessee. Her father, George Erskine saved money and purchased her, her mother, and siblings, to free them all. He and the family emigrated in 1830 to Clay-Ashland, Liberia, as part of the American Colonization Society project there.

In Liberia, Erskine married Zion (Sion) Harris. The couple were successful farmers and traveled with Liberia's first president Joseph Jenkins Roberts in 1848, after independence, visiting both the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Harris couple raised turkeys, ducks, sheep, and growing crops. Ricks was also known for the high quality of her needlework. Ricks was very good at quilting and had won a prize in 1858 for silk stockings that she made.

When Ricks turned 76, Liberian Ambassador Edward Blyden arranged for her to travel to England and be given an audience with the queen. Accompanied by former First Lady Jane Roberts of Liberia, Ricks met the queen at Windsor Castle on July 16, 1892 and delivered the quilt.

Ricks died in 1901.

Legacy Rick was featured in 1900 self-help book The College of Life: or, Practical Self-Educator, A Manual of Self-Improvement for the Colored Race, written by Henry Davenport Northrop D. D.; Hon. Joseph R. Gay; and Professor I. Garland Penn.

As of 2017, the quilt is missing, but photographs of her work displayed in an World's Fair Africana exhibit remain.

Quilt historian Kyra Hicks wrote a biography titled Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria (2012).

Ricks's story is featured in a short radio documentary on BBC, "Looking for Aunt Martha's Quilt" (2017), read by her descendant Florence Dennis-Huskin.

By 2017, the quilt pattern was interpreted and recreated by quilters in Caldwell, Liberia.

Gallery