Viola Canady

Viola Canady (November 3, 1922 – March 21, 2009) was an African American quiltmaker. Canady discovered her passion for quilting through exposure to its processes as a child. She was the co-founder of the Daughters of Dorcas and Sons Quilting Guild of Washington, D.C. Canady created a wall hanging for the Charles Sumner school and it is exhibited at the Sumner museum. One of Canady's most notable pieces is the Cathedral Window Quilt.

Biography Viola Canady was born on November 3, 1922, to Charlie Williams and Lillie Grady. She grew up in Goldsboro, North Carolina, before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1945. In 1960, she began to work as a tailor for the US Army sewing uniforms, most notably working on the uniform of General Douglas MacArthur. In 1979, she retired from the Army before co-founding the Daughters of Dorcas and Sons Quilting Guild in 1980. In addition to her career as a tailor, she made, showed, and sold her products. She also taught for the National Quilters Association. The majority of quilts they made were sold to white women who would display them as their own work. Canady has stated, "I couldn't find ... any black people who quilted" and that "most of the women I'd ask didn't want to quilt because they connected it with poverty, with the country, when everybody had to sleep on quilts". The Daughters of Dorcas and Sons Quilting Guild is the oldest African American quilting group. They added the word "Sons" after three men joined the organization. She made the project by putting together hundreds of pieces of fabrics in a stained-glass style. Her works are also included in the collection of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Some of her other works include pieces called Kente Boy, African Woman, and African Lady with Braids.