Annie Ruth Ware Brown

02/12/24

QSOS-222

Virtual interview

A'donna Richardson (AR): Hello, my name is A'donna Richardson and I'm with the African American Quilt Documentation Study Group, otherwise known as AAQDSG, and today we're here to talk with another guild under the sewn narratives of African American Quilt Guilds Project. The African American Quilt Documentation Study Group is a platform committed to documenting, researching, and preserving African American quilt legacies. Our purpose is to preserve our cultural legacy through documentation and research of African American quilts, the quilt makers, and their untold stories.

Sewn Narratives of African American Quilt Guilds is a nationwide study group project to permanently document the legacy of our African American quilt guilds. If any guild or quilting group is interested in preserving their legacy, please go to www.aaqdsg.com and fill out and submit a documentation contact form. These documentations are free and are done at no cost to the guild or any individual that requests a documentation.

We are a nonprofit organization and rely solely on the donations and grants we receive. Now let's get started. I have with us today the Bethlehem Baptist Church Quilt Ministry.

I was very excited to have Miss Anne Brown with me, and I'm going to turn this over to her and let her tell us a little bit about herself. Anne, you have the floor.

Annie Ruth Ware Brown (AB): Hi A'donna, thank you. First, I'd like to offer praise for my pastor and leadership of Bethlehem that allowed us to use our church facility specifically for a quilting group. I love quilting and to have a place that's actually home because it's my home church, to be able to gather people together.

I started to say women, but we have men in our group as well. So we're just so grateful to have that opportunity. I'm Annie Ruth Ware Brown, and I was born and raised on the farm in Arkansas, Lincoln County, where there was 11 siblings of us.

We were basically cotton farmers, sharecroppers, and we raised all of our own food. There were never times when we were not busy, and when all the work in the fields were accomplished, we were being taught in the home how to cook, how to clean, how to wash, how to sew, and of course how to quilt. So quilting was taught as a means of taking what you have and then making what you need out of it.

In other words, the materials and fabrics that were used for the quilts that we did when I was a child were worn out skirts and parts of field clothing that still had some useful parts that we used to make the quilts. Today we get to go into the quilt stores to buy beautiful fabrics and and cut up and make them the way that we want, but back then we took the scraps of whatever was and we put it together to make quilts. So the history of that art is really important, and so we're trying to teach that in our quilting group.

AR: Okay, well I know that I had asked you to show us one quilt, and I'm assuming that is the one behind you, but I believe I have a, well that's, is that the one behind you? Or no, that's not the quilt we were going to talk about. Just a moment, I need to share the screen to get to the quilt that I want you to talk about that you wanted to share with us today.

AB: Okay, A’donna, now this particular quilt is one of the very first quilts that I made as an adult. Back in 98, I was shopping for a car, actually, and the receptionist was working on a quilt block, and it was, it just caught my eye, and I says, wow, when I retire, that's exactly what I want to do. I want a quilt, but not only a quilt, but I want to make that exact pattern, and that pattern turned out to be called the Underground Railroad.

That gives a lot of history of our slavery and how it came about through the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman. So they were, this particular woman was working with a block where there was 10 of them in this group, and they each were making 10 of each block that they were making, so when they finished, they had 10 quilts, and I thought, huh, so I had three older granddaughters at that time, so I started quilting that particular quilt, and I made three as I went along, so when I finished, I had three quilts, and each of my senior granddaughters at that time received one of those quilts.

AR: Oh my goodness, yeah, my goodness. Well, thank you. Well, can I ask you, how long did it take you to finish one after you got the blocks made?

AB:
Oh, after I got the blocks made, to put them together doesn't take, probably another week or so to get, you know, all the blocks together and the layout that you want them to be, and I want to, you know, I wanted to add that, you know, as I was doing that quilt, I made some labels for my quilts, and I named those labels, they were, this quilting idea was inspired by my mom when I was a kid. I wasn't so inspired by it, but it was an art that was taught by my mother, so my mother inspired my idea of quilting, and then I have four wonderful children that encouraged me to do the quilting after I retired and was able to sit down and quilt, so they encouraged me a lot, and they helped me to purchase a lot of the things that I need for my quilting, so I have to put that in for my children.

AR: Definitely, most definitely. Well, this is beautiful, Annie, and I know that it's been seen at the Tacoma Arts Museum there in Tacoma. Are there any other places that you've been able to show your quilts?

AB: You know, actually, I don't, we do public street fairs, and yes, we do, and actually not this particular one, this one was in the public street fair, but there was another one that I did in the, in our street fair that I got second place on, and there was like 60 plus quilts there, and I was, you know, number two, so that was exciting, so it means that my skills are kind of growing as I go with the quilting.

AR: Well, I'm going to stop sharing this so we can get back to our conversation, but why don't you, you know, as the founding member of the quilt ministry, what inspired the creation of this ministry?

AB: Well, actually, A'donna, you had started a group over at Allen AME Church, and I was a part of that group, and that was exciting, and then from there, I went to another quilting group that was in Puyallup, Washington, and it was the United Methodist Church that had started a group, and, you know, quilting, there's such unity, and love, and encouragement from the ladies. They come together, not just to quilt, but they just kind of share their inner beings, and what the life was like, and how they did quilting when they were, you know, younger, so I attempted to start this quilting group back in 2016, but that was my timing and not God's timing, and then not, it didn't coincide with the vision of the leadership at that time, so we were not allowed to do that, and then we just continued to go to the other quilting groups, and then one day, we were offered sewing machines, and I had spoken to one of the leaders at the church about one of the rooms to perhaps start the quilting group, and I had not gotten a definite, and I had not pursued it, but then when I got the call that we had the machines that needed to be, needed to find a new home, I thought, well, I need to shore this up, and I get the room, so I did talk to leadership, and I was, it was approved. It was really exciting, and so within two days, we had to get a U-Haul truck, and some manpower to get over to the area to pick up the machines that were being donated, so we knew with this, that it was nothing but God, that it was his timing that says, okay, you can get this started now, and so we had lots of materials and things that were donated, and that's how we got started.

AR: That's wonderful, and I was there for part of that. I mean, I was over on the other side of town, but I was there to witness some of those triumphs that you guys had. Well, tell us a little bit about the mission of the ministry.

You know, I've been gone from Washington a few years now, and you guys have just tredged on and have done wonderful things, so why don't you tell us something about the mission?

AB: Well, you know, A'donna, when I first met you and started quilting with you, you gave me a book, and the book was called Fabric of Faith, and it was a guide to the prayer quilt ministry, and being a quilting ministry in our church, I thought that would be really an awesome theme and name for our ministry, that it would be a fabric of faith prayer quilt ministry. Reading some of the stories in the book, it told of how in putting the quilts together, you know, with each cut, with each seam, that if you pray on it, pray on it, pray over it, then it has an effect on the individual that you give the quilt to, and so we do all that we do with prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, and sharing with others, and so that's what our mission is, to be constantly praying over, to be thankful for how the Lord provides for us, and to be able to touch as many lives as we possibly can with the quilting that we do.

AR: Oh, I mean, it's just simply wonderful what you have accomplished over there. Thank you. But let me ask you, what do you hope your legacy will be?

I mean, how do you see the future going forward?

AB: Uh, we are, um, our desire is that this quilt ministry would continue, that we started off with five committed individuals to quilt with us, but anyway, we started off with just five, but now we have 17 faithful quilters. They come on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, not all at the same time, but between Thursday, Friday, Saturday, there's 17 people that comes weekly for this quilting, and so our desire is that those individuals, that they're being taught not just the skill of quilting, but they're also being taught the legacy, they're being taught the history, our history of where we came from, and how it is that we are, you know, like where we are today, and so we're hoping that others will, that are learning this, will keep that same love of quilting that we have, so that they would be willing to continue to quilt and to share that quilting with others.

AR: That, that is just truly amazing that you've been able to do this and share your inspiration, and I know that that's difficult with one or two people, but you've got 17, and keeping everything together, I know that that's been a challenge, but you've done that, you've done that, you've done it marvelously. Yes. Tell me a little bit about some of your goals.

AB: Well, our goal is to keep our numbers up in the quilting, and to continue to reach as many as we possibly can with our work, especially with, you know, like I say, we are a praying quilt ministry, you know, we pray over everything about our doing in the quilting, you know, all of the materials, all those supplies, they're prayed over, the quilts are prayed over as we put them together, and so our desire is that we would just be able to continue to do that, and to meet as many, as many needs as we possibly can.

We have, we are on our campus here, we are anticipating in the very near future to have a, to have transition homes, and they should have as many as 75 beds in the structure, and we would like to have a quilt for each bed when that structure is finalized within the next year, or what have you. So that's, that's our long-term goal. We've actually, I received in the mail today from South Carolina, a quilt top that is completed, because she was, came via Bethlehem, came through by Bethlehem in the military, but now they're retired back home, and so knowing what we're doing, she, I think she has finished the very first top of that pattern that we have for the quilts that, and that we intend to do 65 of.

So continue in our quilting, and to make a quilt for each bed for the transition home that we hope to have within the, you know, the next year or so.

AR: Well, that says something about your quilt ministry when you have members that physically leave the area, but they continue to support your goals or your group projects. They continue to stay connected something with the quilt ministry. That does say a lot about what's set up there.

But I also know that you collaborate a lot with the community, and that project that you just spoke of is a huge endeavor. It is. Do you know when you're going to start that, or when you think it'll be completed?

AB: Well, actually, it's, it will be ongoing, because it's a lot, and they're not lap-sized. These are full-size beds with the twin size, the double, and the queen. And so we have, it's a long-term thing that we will be working.

We're trying to do so many per month, and like I just mentioned, this young lady has done the very, we have the blocks, but we haven't put them all together to make the quilt top. But she has done her blocks and put a quilt top together, and her size that she's done will fit a queen-size bed, I mean a twin-size bed.

AR: I might want to make one too.

AB: Absolutely. I'll send you the pattern. Okay.

AR: Thank you, A'donna. Well, now let's move on a and talk a little bit about community engagement and outreach. I mean, oh, I'm sorry, we just spoke on that.

Please excuse me. I want to talk about cultural significance and the future of African-American guilds, something that's important to me.

AB: Yes, there's a little bit more about, we didn't go into too much about the community engagement in that. We have done several in our short time of being a quilt group. We have done several quilt of valor.

We had two World War II veterans in our church, and so we made a quilt of valor for each of them. We had some special individuals that worked really hard to help us and support us, and so we've made a quilt for them. I just showed of mine that we actually sold raffle tickets for that quilt, because we were trying to help to offset some expense of some repair on the roof of the building that we were using.

So that was a, community outreach in that we got that quilt done, and we were really successful. And Tacoma Police Department, one of the collaborations of them working with us, we networked with St. Joseph's Hospital, and we made, we had committed 10, but we made 38 quilts that we donated to the NICU unit, and it was really exciting. We did this with an engagement with this officer from the Tacoma Police Department, and we learned a lot in doing that.

Not only was, were we out doing an outreach, but we learned that, you know, we can do the even the preemie size quilts, and that they're real useful, that they cover the bassinet, they cover the, when the moms go home with them, they can, you know, carry the quilts with them, you know, and they just have lots of meaning for them when they, and use for them when we do that. So that was one of the things that we did.

AR: I tell you, you're, you've done a lot, and I know you're going to be blessed going forward. Did I, did we discuss, no, we haven't gotten there yet. Let's talk about the cultural significance and the future of African American quilting gills.

AB: Yeah, you know, quilting is actually a demonstration of who we are as African Americans. You know, we came from trying to keep warm. That's how we started the quilting.

So the significance of really knowing how this, it's a skill, it's an art, but it's also knowledge of who we are. It's knowledge of our history, of where our, where we came from, you know, what our foreparents endured and what they did to help to keep their families warm. Yeah.

So we want to teach the physical skill, the art, and the history of this skill. We want to teach that. It helps us to share ourselves.

We go into the quilt room and we can sit there and feel very comfortable sharing just who we are. You know, like, you know, our struggle last week was not very good, but we can share that in this group and feel comfortable sharing it because we become a family actually. And we just enjoy each other as we learn this, as we learn about ourselves.

And you don't know, you can't figure out where you're going if you don't know where you came from. So this African American quilting thing is very, very, very important. It's not just getting together and making a pretty quilt, but it's, you know, sharing history that we pass on to our children and grandchildren.

And it's fellowshipping with one another. As you said, A'donna, we reminisce on what our parents and grandparents did. You know, there were groups of them that would come together and sit around the table and quilt.

And they, you know, we didn't have the fancy machines. We were quilting with our hands. And we had made the frames to hang the quilts from the ceiling so that we still had the room for walking around in.

And then we would let it down when it was time to quilt. We would all get a chair and sit around it and do the quilting. So that kind of history is great for all of us.

And then it's great for us to pass it on.

AR: Well, I was going to ask you for some closing thoughts, but I had another question. I mean, questions just kept coming up. Like, I wanted to know, you said you started quilting when you were a young girl and you all had to quilt.

How young were you?

AB: Well, in my parents' house, I guess we started to do things as soon as we were oh, big enough to stand up, move around. But, you know, probably seven or eight years old, there was some part of the quilting that we could do. You know, now all of the things that you need to make a quilt, you can go in a store and buy.

When I started to quilt, we had cotton that came from the cotton gin. So it wasn't batted out like the batting that we put in the quilts nowadays. So we had a branch or a stick that had three prongs on it, and we would put the back of the quilt on the floor.

And then the cotton went on top of that. And now we have the stick that we can just beat the cotton until we get it to smooth out across this whole quilt. So that, at seven years old, we could do real easily.

And it was probably fun.

AR: Well, I'm saying that from a person who never did it.

AB: Exactly. At that age, it was fun for us. But after, you know, after it gets to be something that is kind of like required, because you don't, my mom had this saying of the idle hand is the devil's workshop.

So we think she kept our hands busy all the time. So that was, so we could start quilting really early because of the different aspects of what you could do. Yeah.

AR:
Okay. Well, Annie, before we close out, I guess my last question to you, is there anything else you'd like to share about the quilt ministry that we haven't covered today? Or is there like any final thoughts or advice that you have for others who might be maybe considering starting a quilt ministry of their own at their church?

AB: Well, I would like, I would just say, just be encouraged. If at first trying it doesn't work, just keep trying. Don't give up.

Talk to the Lord about what you're trying to do. Don't just try to do it yourself. Allow the Lord to direct you in it.

And I guarantee you that will work. It, I believe, as far as I know, we are the only African American quilt group in this area, especially like in the Pierce County area. I checked.

Oh, okay. So we are the only one. We are the only one.

In Washington. In the state of Washington. So we need to, it's an awesome thing to venture into.

And especially if you're doing it in your church, you meet people that they get so excited. They come into worship. We have people now that come into worship with us via the knowledge of the quilting that we're doing there.

So the church is growing. We are touching people. And that's exactly what you would do if you chose to become a quilting group.

And there's lots of, we have three different churches that quilts with us, three different ladies, ladies from three different churches that quilt with us at Bethlehem church. So talk to your pastor. I'm sure that he would be excited to, to hear what you have to say about quilting and teaching this art and the knowledge and history of where we from as far as the quilting goes.

AR: How is this done with little of nothing? Because I was there in the beginning when you had little of nothing.

AB: Well, actually being done with little of nothing, quilters have the biggest hearts and they share. We have, you know, phone calls that come in and says, Oh, I heard that you guys have a group over here. We have lots of material that we cannot use.

Can we share it with you? A'donna, you provided sewing machines. You provided so many things.

We have racks and shelves and cutting boards. We have rotary cutters. We have pins.

We have threads, all of those things that you yourself personally donated. And there are other quilt groups that have donated things. And then people that we give things to, they bring back says, Oh my, this is really nice.

We'll be glad to share this with you. We have people who have shared their mother's sewing machines because they no longer sew or because they didn't sew in the first place, but mom died and left this. So we have sewing machines that were, all you have to do is have the heart and have the Lord leading you.

And he will provide absolute everything that you need. We don't charge for the people to come and be a part of our group. We do not charge them a dime to come in, to be a part of the group.

You just come in, things are provided. Now, once you kind of get a little knowledge of it and you have something, your own self that you, your own special that you want to do, then of course you have to buy that. But to start off in the group of, you know, just come in and sewing, we have plenty of supplies that you could use just right there because they're donated to us.

They're shared with us. And so we shared with others.

AR: I, you mentioned the donations. I was very happy to provide what I could to what you have over there at Bethlehem. I knew that I could see that you were touching people.

You were drawing in people and I, it was almost like transformative is the word that comes to mind. Even though I no longer live in Washington and I haven't been there for a year, a couple of years, for the little bit of time after you got started, I mean, I actually saw someone come in, no skills, no nothing. And you, just the atmosphere, the camaraderie, the fellowship, they couldn't believe it's free.

I don't have to buy anything. I don't have to pay for anything. And you were always available to help whomever, whenever.

And you, I know you have some wonderful people there working with you, you know, shout out to Liz Burris, shout out to Vivian Miller, shout out to Debbie Chambers. And if I've missed anybody, I apologize, but you had a great crew of women working with you to help you pull this off. And I think you've done a fabulous job, my dear.

AB: Absolutely. Thank you. And you know, you are absolutely right.

You, A'donna, was our inspiration. You were my inspiration to keep going. When I would say that I can't, A'donna would say, yes, you can. And you do a good job. And so, I just, I kept going, and I kept going. And so, you are the main inspiration that kept us going to get to where we are with this quilting.

And you have provided so many of the things that we need. And we learned, we have, you know, I think we have the best quilting instructor in the whole United States, I do. I mean, she is just phenomenal.

She's been quilting since she was very young. And she has real skills in what she does. And she's real patient.

And the quilters that we have, they really like her. And she does an awesome job. Now, Debbie Chambers is great.

And Liz Burris is great. Vivian is the absolute world champ as far as quilting goes. And she shows very beautiful items.

And she helps you in anything that you would like to learn. She's able to help you to do that. And actually, she doesn't charge a dime.

She doesn't charge a dime. She will teach you what the Lord has given her, this special skill of quilting.

AR: Mm hmm. Well, I so appreciate your time this, this morning, or the afternoon now. I know you're busy, you always have 15 things going on at one time.

But I just wanted to close out before I closed out. I forgot in my introduction to and I definitely didn't want to leave anything out. So before we close, I would like to share with the audience that the African American quilt documentation study group is also happy to be partners with like minded organizations, like the Quilt Alliance.

And its mission is to document preserve and share American quilt heritage by collecting stories about quilts and their makers that tell about Americans, diverse peoples and their communities. And their quilters SOS save our stories is the largest oral history collections about quilt makers in the world. And I am very excited to be partnered with them for this endeavor of collecting stories from African American quilt gills.

And with that, I will end and thank you so very much and for giving us your time, sharing your story. Thank you.

AB: Thank you, A’donna.

AR: God bless you. God bless you too. Goodbye.

Bye.