Harriet, Our Spy

Artist:

Kim F. Hall

machine quilted by Kim Komet in Baltimore, MD

Dimensions:

48H x 70W

Materials:

cotton, fabric

panel by Ray Davis

Technique/Style:

machine pieced with some hand applique

Quilt Story

Kim F. Hall: While helping my Mom organize her sewing stash, which includes fabrics related to Black history and the U.S. Civil War, I came across a print of abolitionist organizer Harriet Tubman. Mom gave it to me provided I actually made something with it. When I saw Jen Kingwell's Wanderer's Wife quilt pattern at a shop, an image of Harriet's face on a flag came to me. Inspired by Mom's using her We,Too,Sing America quilt as a teaching tool, I wanted the blocks to speak to Tubman's life and impact. The Christmas before the pandemic, we had a family trip to the Maryland Eastern shore to travel part of the Harriet Tubman Byway. Thus she was even more on my mind and it became one of my lockdown projects. I would frequently Facetime Mom to get input, but joked that I would have to stop showing her my progress because she would bring up Tubman stories that I hadn't included and would make my quilt the size of an actual flag. It has images from the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Museum as well as from Alison Saar’s Swing Low. The base of this Harriet Tubman memorial in Harlem (Harriet’s Escape) alternates tiles of scenes from Tubman’s life with quilt blocks, a visual biography that honors the fact that literacy was denied Tubman.

The back is an African fabric I bought in London because it says “Afrofuturism” to me. Originally, I was going to stamp Tubman’s face all over it, but was advised against that by a textile artist. The Underground Railroad map that I used for the label was also in my mother’s stash.

In quilting, an "I Spy" quilt is an interactive baby quilt that helps stimulate cognitive skills by using a variety of novelty fabrics and patterns for children to identify. Harriet, Our Spy is an adult version that I hope will encourage people to learn more about Tubman’s extraordinary life. In addition to her many contributions to freedom, Harriet was a largely unrecognized military figure, She served as spy for the Union Army, gathering intelligence in the heart of Confederate territory in preparation for the astonishing Combahee River Raid in South Carolina. The US Army Military Intelligence Corps inducted "our spy" into their Hall of Fame in June 2021.