1234 Columbus Avenue
Building 3, Room 211A
Boston, MA 02120
Phone: 857-701-1380
Email: library1@rcc.mass.edu
In this video, we meet the ebullient women quilters who display their colorful creations. Many of the women incorporate African fabrics into their work, thus enhancing their connection to their roots. Here is an art form made from remnants, where every scrap of fabric has its history. Textile historian Dr. Floris Cash reflects on how quilts are interwoven with the lives of black women in America. Those artists that depict narrative scenes in fabric are continuing the storytelling tradition that is such an integral part of their cultural heritage. Willis "Bing" Davis, Chairman of the Art Department of Central State University, speaks of the spirituality of these works which come from the hearts and memories of their creators.
The film chronicles the lives of ordinary women as well as individuals such as Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Keckley, Frances Willard and Abigail Scott Duniway through the great 19th century events: industrialization, abolition, the Civil War, westward movement, temperance and suffrage. For nineteenth century women, quilts were the podium, the pulpit and the judges' gavel, which their society denied them. Their quilts speak the language of abolition, patriotism, politics, social justice and westward expansion.
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
An Olympic athlete; a gay activist; a boy with hemophilia; a recovering heroin addict; a closeted Navy commander: five very diverse lives that shared a common fate. Their lives--along with thousands of others--are woven together in a giant memorial patchwork quilt, that is solemnly unfolded in the US capitol to protest the government's refusal to respond to a growing epidemic. COMMON THREADS tells the powerful story of the first decade of the AIDS epidemic in the US.
Quilts is a ground breaking film used by folklorists, anthropologists and historians of art and women's history that presents the lives, art, work and philosophy of seven ordinary women. This deceptively simple film won most of the major awards for independent films during the years after its release in 1981 ( including Emily Grand Prize from the , American Library Association American Film Festival; 1st Place Fine Arts, San Francisco International Film Festival; Best of Festival, National Educational Film and Video Festival, New York International Film Festival, Margaret Mead Film Festival.)
Monday: 8:30 - 5:00 pm
Tuesday: 8:30 - 5:00 pm
Wednesday: 8:30 - 5:00 pm
Thursday: 8:30 - 5:00 pm
Friday: 8:30 - 5:00 pm
Saturday: CLOSED
Sunday: CLOSED
Monday: 8:30 - 8:00 pm
Tuesday: 8:30 - 8:00 pm
Wednesday: 8:30 - 8:00 pm
Thursday: 8:30 - 8:00 pm
Friday: 8:30 - 5:00 pm
Saturday: 8:30 - 3:00 pm
You can find the services we offer at a distance via Zoom, Teams, and other internet-based methods on our remote services page.
Evening class instruction available by request. To see if the RCC Library is closed on school holidays and semester breaks, please consult the Library Calendar.
857-701-1380
or via text at 857-877-2255
library1@rcc.mass.edu
1234 Columbus Avenue
Building 3, Room 211
Boston, MA 02120
