Digital subscriptions provided by the City of Gulfport THE GABBER.COM No. 2777
September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022
Black Pioneers A few years ago, The James Museum of Western & Wildlife art approached The Women of Color Quilters Network. “[The James] wanted to feature Black history in the West,” Museum Curator Emily Kapes told The Gabber. And quilts, given their role in African-American history and the western frontier, seemed like the perfect medium. The Women of Color Quilters, led by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, is the largest group of African-American quilters in the U.S., but they’d never done a show highlighting the American West. Doing so would require research and creating a large body of original work. Lucky for us, the group accepted the challenge with enthusiasm: 40 artists, from all over the U.S., created at least one quilt for the Mazloomi-curated exhibition Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West. The 50 quilts displayed in The James’ special exhibitions gallery tell the story of Black history in the American West from the 1500s through the Civil Rights movement. Each one features a different Black pioneer, their life story researched
SANDRA NOBLE, “ANNIE BOX NEAL”, 2021, ©SANDRA E. NOBLE
By Jen Ring
Sandra Noble’s quilt depicts Annie Box Neal, an early hotelier of African American and Cherokee heritage, who established the Mountain View Hotel with her husband, William Neal, in early Arizona.
and depicted in fabric by the quilt’s creator. The story begins with Esteban de Dorantes. Esteban was the slave of Spanish explorer, Andres Dorantes. As his slave, Esteban accompa-
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nied Dorantes on the ill-fated Narvaez expedition, where they were two of only four survivors out of a 600-member crew. They started near St. Petersburg, but then wanPioneers continued on page 18
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