Alabama artist one of Southern Livingâs 2023 âSoutherners of the Yearâ
As the year draws to a close, Southern Living is celebrating trailblazers who are preserving history and building communities across the region. The publication has released its 2023 “Southerners of the Year” list, honoring people and organizations from Alabama, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
One of this year’s honorees is Loretta Pettway Bennett, a member of the Freedom Quilting Bee Legacy. The original Freedom Quilting Bee was formed in 1966 at the Antioch Baptist Church in Camden, the seat of Wilcox County. A community of women in the county was known for stitching vibrant quilts from swatches of fabric.
Black people in the county were being fired for registering to vote. The year after the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march, an Episcopal priest and civil rights activist named Francis X. Walter, drove to Wilcox County and saw the quilts dangling from clotheslines. Walter and fellow activists helped the women place some of the quilts up for auction as a way to make revenue. The organizers later helped the women form a cooperative to continue bringing the quilts to national attention. The quilters attracted the attention of national retailers, including Sears.
The organization officially closed in 2011. In 2021, the Freedom Quilting Bee Legacy was established, the organization hosts sewing classes and events with the mission of preserving the history of quilting in the county and the state.
“Bennett still sews every day, and her quilts have been displayed in more than a dozen museums and galleries around the world,” Southern Living writes of Bennett. “But what she’s proudest of is her work with FQB Legacy, a nonprofit that’s dedicated to bringing attention to the original members and artists—innovative and resilient women like her mom, grandmothers, aunts, and neighbors.
“We need to continue the tradition of sewing and making things with our hands,” Bennett told Southern Living. “Most people don’t have wealth or jewelry to pass on, but at least we have a craft.”