TMQ5
Unsung Heroines of Alabama
2019
Year five of TMQ occurred in tandem with Alabama’s bicentennial celebration. TMQ5 facilitators chose to honor unsung heroines of Alabama who have shaped or are shaping the state’s future. One such heroine, Claudette Colvin, was arrested at the age of fifteen in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a crowded, segregated bus. That was on March 2, 1955. Nine months later, Rosa Parks would do the same thing. The colors for foundation blocks were limited to red and white, mimicking the colors of Alabama’s state flag. Completed blocks were arranged to depict the gender symbol for female.
62.5" x 76"
50" x 64"
The year-long series of sewing sessions started on January 7, 2019 at the Avondale Public Library in Birmingham, to honor Zora Neale Hurston on her birthday. Although she is well known today, Ms. Hurston died penniless and was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in 1960. In 1973, author Alice Walker located Hurston's grave and put a marker on it.
*The TMQ5 logo, designed by Lisa Nguyen for The Modern Brand, references the Suffragette purple from TMQ2 and incorporates the running stitch in the design.