Upcountry History Museum presents stories stitched in the seams

There’s an art to storytelling and in “We Didn’t Wait for Freedom – The Civil War Narrative Quilts of Vera P. Hall,” the stories are literally stitched in the seams of this personal quilt collection going on display Saturday, August 26, 2023, at the Upcountry History Museum – Greenville County, a Smithsonian Affiliate.

Vera P. Hall is a seamstress and quilter who both studies history and has made history herself. A retired educator from the Baltimore, Maryland, public school system and Maryland State Department of Education, she was the first African American teacher assigned to an all-white school in the city’s “Little Italy” community. She also served on the Baltimore City Council. Throughout her professional and political life, Hall never stopped sewing. The pieces in this collection come out of her passion to let people know that the story of quilting is diverse and wide-ranging.

Historically, American quilters have worked together, often in guilds, to tailor handmade keepsakes commemorating special events. A longtime quilter, Hall won a set of Civil War quilt blocks at a guild event and challenged herself to find some way of using the blocks to highlight the variety of African American experiences during the war. This project led her to also explore in fabric other stories of African Americans whose lives in slavery and freedom changed American history. The results are seen in the quilts of this display, like “We, Too, Sing America,” “Harriet Tubman,” and “Robert Smalls.”

“The needle and thread have always been a passion in my life,” said Hall. For her, quilting and story quilts, in particular, are “piecing the past to the future.”

She still quilts and continues to let people know that these stories on fabric share common threads among families, communities, and eras. “We Didn’t Wait for Freedom” will be on exhibit from Aug. 26, 2023, through February 18, 2024.

The Upcountry History Museum is located at 540 Buncombe St., in Greenville, S.C. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Sunday from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. For more information, call 864-467-3100 or visit www.upcountryhistory.org.