On this day in 1910, William D. Crum, an African American physician from South Carolina, was appointed the U.S. minister to Liberia. Previously he held the positions of delegate to Republican National Convention from South Carolina, and U.S. Collector of Customs in Charleston. Leona Johnson of Monrovia, Liberia, made this Zinnia Variation quilt in 1992. […]
On this day in 1929, Annelies “Anne” Marie Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany. Frank died from typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Her father, Otto Frank, the only surviving member of the family found Anne’s diary and worked to have it published in 1947. Anne wrote in her […]
On this day in 1979, American film icon John Wayne died at age 72 after battling cancer for more than a decade. Wayne was born Marion Morrison in 1907 in Winterset, Iowa. “The Duke,” (a nickname that came from his childhood dog), became famous for his roles as a rugged western hero, delivering lines like […]
On this day in 1752, Philadelphia printer Benjamin Franklin demonstrated electricity when he flew a kite during a thunderstorm and collected a charge in a Leyden jar, an early capacitor for containing static electricity. This wool and silk Kite’s Tail quilt was hand pieced and hand quilted by an unknown quiltmaker in Iowa between 1925-1940. […]
On this day in 1973, the three-year-old chestnut thoroughbred from Doswell, Virginia named Secretariat became the first horse since 1948 to win the coveted Triple Crown—the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. Shirley P. Kelly of Colden, New York, hand appliqued and machine quilted this 14.75” x 21.25” quilt, titled “Cigar – In […]
On this day in 1944, Allied forces crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France to begin the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control during World War II. Sharon Powers of Cooper Harbor, Michigan made this quilt in honor of D-Day for a hospital raffle between 1976 and 1999. She […]
On this day in 1832, Queen Regent Ka’ahumanu of Hawaii, died after a brief illness. Ka’ahumanu was the most powerful wife of King Kamehameha and after his death she was named Queen Regent, a title similar to a modern-day prime minister. The Queen embraced Christianity and right before her death, missionaries presented her with the […]
On this day in 1862, Confederate forces evacuate Fort Pillow, Tennessee, leaving a clear path for the Union capture of Memphis. Two years later, the Fort Pillow Massacre was one of the bleakest battles of the Civil War, with nearly 300 surrendered black Union soldiers killed by Confederate forces. Agnes Mushet of Methuen, Massachusetts, made […]
On this day in 1906, world-famous dancer, singer and actress Josephine Baker (Freda Josephine McDonald) was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Baker, who ran away from home to dance in vaudeville and on Broadway at age 13, was the first African American woman to star in a major motion picture (Zouzou, 1934). Baker moved to […]
On this day in 1868, African American educator and race leader John Hope was born in Augusta, Georgia. His father was Scottish-born and his mother was a free African American woman born in Hancock County, Georgia. The couple lived openly as husband and wife, although Georgia law prohibited interracial marriage until 1967. At age 38, […]