"Flying Geese" variation
"Flying Geese" variation
Artist
Florine Smith
(American, 1948 - 2022)
Place of OriginGee's Bend Quilting Community, Boykin, Alabama, United States
Dateabout 1975
Dimensions85 3/4 × 60 in. (217.8 × 152.4 cm)
MediumCorduroy
ClassificationTextiles and Fiber
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Object number
2021.26
Not on View
Description"Flying geese" is a long-established quilt pattern, inspired by the migratory patterns of birds. Folklore has it that escaped enslaved people would use encoded quilt patterns to help find their way to freedom along the Underground Railroad. This lore says that the "flying geese" pattern was a signal to follow the direction of the flying geese and other birds and they migrated north in the springtime. This pattern adopted a renewed significance during the Great Migration in the early to mid-twentieth century.
Probably second quarter of first century
Probably mid-first century
Probably second quarter of first century
Edo Period (1603-1868)
19th century
Unidentified, Gorgoneion Group
about 560 BCE
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