QUILT INDEX RECORD

8-5-429

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

University of Louisville Archives and Records Center

Who documented this quilt?

Kentucky Quilt Project; Black Diaspora Quilt History Project; Women of Color Quilters Network

Kentucky Quilt Project Number:

34-17-33

Owner's name for quilt:

La Baker Quilt

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Applique

Time period:

1976-1999

Family/owner's date for quilt:

1990

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

Acrylic paint, photo transfer pellon, appliqued. 47" x 35"

Quilt top made by:

Smoote, Jim

Where the quilt was made, city:

Chicago

Where the quilt was made, state:

Illinois (IL)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

Louisville Celebrates the American Quilt: Always There - The African American Presence in American Quilts. Louisville, KY. February 7-March 31, 1992. Louisville Museum of History and Science.
Quilting African American Women's History: Our Challenges, Creativity, and Champions

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Essay:

My quilt celebrates the life of Josephine Baker one of the world's most beloved. She was an American-born French expatriate who later became a French citizen. Baker was most noted as a singer, though in her early career she was a celebrated dancer. Famous for barely-there dresses and no-holds-barred dance routines, her exotic beauty generated the nickname "Black Venus." While living in France she was known in the old theatrical tradition as "La Baker". Her exotic, sensual act reinforced the creative images coming out of the Harlem Renaissance in America. During World War II, Josephine Baker worked with the Red Cross, gathered intelligence for the French Resistance and entertained troops in Africa and the Middle East. Josephine Baker was a crusader for racial equality, refusing to entertain in any club or theater that was not integrated and thereby breaking the color bar at many establishments. In 1963, she spoke at the March on Washington at the side of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Kentucky Quilt Project