Pell City Library invites you to celebrate Gee’s Bend on Wednesday, February 20 at noon, as they welcome Gee’s Bend native, Claudia Pettway Charley and author, Irene Latham to share their memories and stories of Gee’s Bend. 

In connection with this event, the library will display authentic Gee’s Bend quilts made available by the Charley family.  In addition, the library welcomes saxophonist, Delon Charley and Company, presenting a variety of tunes popular during the days of the earliest Gee’s Bend quilts, including blues, jazz, ragtime and gospel.

What is Gee’s Bend’s history?  For practical reasons, many early Alabama settlers established communities alongside its rivers.  Such was the case with Joseph Gee, a large landowner from Halifax County.  In 1816, he settled in the fertile land in the bend of the Alabama River to grow cotton, building a plantation, and bringing slaves to work the land.  When he died in 1824, he left his plantation, and 47 slaves to nephews Sterling and Charles Gee.  Charles moved to Alabama, and ran the plantation until the mid-1840s when it was sold to relative, Mark H. Pettway. 

Pettway brought his family and additional slaves to the Bend, clearing the land, building a “master’s” house and living in relative isolation, because the land was almost completely surrounded by the river. 

After emancipation, the freed slaves elected to stay on the plantation, working as tenants and sharecroppers.  Then, in 1895, the Pettway family sold the plantation to Adrian Sebastian Van de Graaff, an attorney residing in Tuscaloosa, who ran the farm as an absentee landowner.  When a Camden merchant, who had extended credit to the farmers died in 1932, his heirs demanded repayment of that debt. They sent representatives to collect whatever they could in goods, including livestock, household items, and even seeds for next year’s planting! Without help from the Red Cross, the food provided by a generous plantation owner from Wilcox County, and free rent allowed by the De Graaff family, the farmers might have starved that winter.  Resilient and thrifty, the residents worked the land, and made quilts for warmth from usable worn clothing scraps they salvaged, competing among themselves to see who could make the most beautiful quilts!  Despite their adversity, the residents were determined to survive, and later even to struggle for basic citizen rights, including the right to vote.

In 1937, when the Van de Graaff family sold their land to the federal government, the Farm Security Administration established Gee’s Bend Farms, Inc., a pilot program and cooperative, by which the land was subdivided and houses built. It also afforded inhabitants the right to purchase tracts of land and have control of the land they worked.

The quilts of Gee’s Bend, which are distinguished by their vibrant contrasting colors and seemingly random design, have made the quilters internationally famous. They have been displayed in museums and galleries throughout the United States, including the Smithsonian.  They each tell a story, struggle steadfast determination, and ultimately of hope from the quilter’s heart and hand. 

The Pell City Library invites you to see a sampling of these quilts, some old, some new.  Each is created with the love and skill that has been passed down from generation to generation.  Hear fascinating stories by Claudia Pettway about growing up in the unique Alabama town called Gee’s Bend.  Hear of an author’s story that changed her life forever.  Hear music from talented artists.

The program, which begins at noon, is free and open to the public.  Light refreshments will be served afterwards.