Within hours of the final electoral tallies confirming that Barack Obama would serve as the 44th president of the United States, two eminent figures in the world of African American quilts were devising a unique tribute unlike any afforded a prior president. Quilt scholar and photo-documentarian Roland Freeman, author of The Communion of Spirits: African American Quilters, Preservers, and Their Stories as well as several other photo essays on black quilters, and Carolyn Mazloomi, head of the Women of Color Quilters Network through which she has authored numerous books and orchestrated multiple exhibitions of quilts by black men and women, were determined that, in time for the 2009 inauguration of the first African American president, they would co-curate an exhibition in Washington D.C. comprised of quilts dedicated to President Obama. They put out a call to quilters, knowing that the lead time for the creation of something as labor-intensive as a quilt was extremely short.
 
Nonetheless, the call was met with extraordinary enthusiasm, and numerous quilters from throughout the United States put in the late nights, early mornings, and marathon sewing sessions needed to finish their tribute quilts by the deadline. The original goal was 44 quilts for the 44th president, but interest from the quilting world was so strong that many hundreds of quilts were made. While most of the quilts depicted President Obama, some also included his wife, Michelle Robinson Obama, and still other quilters opted to focus their tribute on the first lady. It is safe to say that no first family of the United States has triggered so much affection from the quilting community as the Obamas.
 
As of November 2024, there are approximately 33 quilts in the Quilt Index that reference the Obamas, some of which were made in response to the original call, while others were made by quilt artists motivated to share their appreciation for the first couple in cloth. By scrutinizing several of these examples, we can assess the impact the first black president and first lady had on the quilting community.
 
For some quilters, the Obamas are secondary figures in the stories their quilts tell. Thomas Knaver's “Tea and Skittles” is about the senseless murder of Trayvon Martin. He notes, however, in his artist statement that then-President Obama’s impassioned remarks about the racism that fueled Trayvon’s assailant was an important factor in keeping the image of the young man in a sweatshirt in the public’s eyes. In “Go Jay Go” by Toya Thomas, the central figure is her son Jay, decked out in a football uniform. She populates the stands with individuals important to Jay, including the first black president. Far more common in the Obama quilts are depictions in which he is clearly the central figure. In most of these quilts, the artist also includes depictions of other notable African American leaders, and the quilt’s underlying message is that the president is the beneficiary of the sacrifices and achievements of the work of many others. In Sherry Shine’s “Fearless,” also selected for the cover of Carolyn Mazloomi’s book on Obama quilts, Journey of Hope: Quilts Inspired by President Barack Obama, Barack Obama, with his omnipresent flag pin, is seated behind Rosa Parks on a bus, eloquently conveying how important her efforts were to the success of African Americans who followed her. Similarly, in Carolyn Crump’s “The Bus Ride That Paved The Way,” Barack and Michelle Obama, along with Harriet Tubman and Thurgood Marshall, have their heads lowered in Parks’ direction, signaling their respect and admiration for her role in disrupting Jim Crow segregation rules and policies. Given how much attention the Obamas’ inspiring oratorical abilities were given, it’s not surprising that many quilters combined their images with the words and slogans that became mainstays of the campaign. In Deborah Fell’s “And Then There was Hope,” she positions a headshot-style image of Obama from the shoulders up against the word "Hope," spelled vertically in large yellow letters. “Hope” was, by far, the most recognizable word associated with the Obama campaigns. In much smaller letters, other words such as "change" and "Chicago" are inscribed, graffiti-style, on the surface of the quilt. In “By My Hand/Dilemma and Destiny…Justice for All,” Theresa Polley Shellcroft opted to place full-length figures of George Washington, the first United States president, and his enslaved black servant, looking each other in the eyes with an oversized copy of the preamble to the Constitution held by both their hands. These figures are appliquéd onto the quilt, and she uses photo transfer techniques to situate actual photos of the president during the moment when he was being sworn in. Several quilters opted for words alone.The collection contains a replica of a quilt made by Denyse Schmidt to raise funds for the Obama campaign. Against a bold red background, the slogan "Yes We Can" is repeated five times above the date, November 4, 2008. In “Emancipation to Equality: A Long Journey Continues,” Jakki Dukes juxtaposes words and slogans against an American flag template. In the upper left-hand corner, "Yes We Can" is repeated four times, as is "Obama 08." The stripes section contains the lyrics to James Weldon Johnson’s "Lift Every Voice and Sing," commonly referred to as the Negro National Anthem. Even the stars are embroidered with the names of African American notables such as Ella Fitzgerald and Colin Powell. In these examples, and indeed in many of the quilts inspired by the Obamas, the artists choose fabrics that enable them to riff off of the red, white, and blue colors associated with American patriotic display. Often the finished palette evokes an American flag without actually depending on the use of the literal colors of an official flag. One of the most striking examples of the use of red, white, and blue is on display in Latifah Shakir’s “Dream The Impossible Dream,” an abstract composition comprised of multiple small strips of fabric. In her statement about the quilt in Hope, she notes, “The red fabrics stood for the red states, the blue fabrics stood for the blue states, and, as President Obama so eloquently expressed in his speeches, we are rightly known as the United States” (Mazloomi, 164). Even quilters who use other colors and fabrics for most of the surface of their quilts still frequently include flag iconography as a way of reinforcing that this election situates a black man as commander-in-chief of the United States. Although the quilters focus on similar themes and incorporate identical symbols in their quilts about the Obamas, the range of inventiveness and creativity evident in the final products is remarkable. No two quilts are alike, and all are deserving of admiration and preservation.

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About the author
Patricia A. Turner, PhD is a research professor in African American Studies and World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA.  Her African American quilt research started in the 1980s when she interned at the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Folklife Programs with pioneering African American quilt scholars, Gladys-Marie Fry, Roland Freeman, and Worth Long.  Since then she has given multiple presentations on black quilts and her book, Crafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African American Quilts was published by the University Press of Mississippi in 2009.  She is also an Obama scholar, her book Trash Talk: Anti-Obama Lore and Race in the Twenty-First Century was published by the University of California Press in 2022.