JEFFERSON COUNTY MEMORIAL QUILT
Create Birmingham, in partnership with Jefferson County Memorial Project, Bib & Tucker Sew-Op, The Black Cherry Tree Project, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will manage The Jefferson County Memorial Quilt Project. A community-based initiative, this project seeks to reckon with central Alabama’s haunting history of racial violence and propel racial reconciliation through the co-construction of a Jefferson County Memorial Quilt, which will be created in honor of the 33 African-Americans who were lynched in Jefferson County from the mid-19th through the mid-20th century.
In the time after the Civil War, violent resistance to equal rights for Black people led to decades of abuse and exploitation meant to intimidate Black people and enforce racial subordination. The Equal Justice Initiative reported in 2017 that in the time between the Civil War and World War II, thousands of African Americans were lynched—violent and public acts of torture that traumatized Black people throughout the country, and that were largely tolerated by state and federal officials. These lynchings were terrorism, and claimed the lives of African American men, women, and children who were forced to endure the fear and barbarity of this widespread phenomenon unaided.
The Equal Justice Initiative documented 362 lynchings in Alabama and 30 in Jefferson County, and beginning in 2019, Fellows from the Jefferson County Memorial Project completed groundbreaking research on the history of our county’s documented victims, with some Fellows finding more victims than originally discovered. Previous to the reports issued by JCMP Fellows, no comprehensive research had ever been completed on Jefferson County’s lynching victims and their experiences, providing details about their lives, communities, and the atrocities they suffered.
Using an art-centered approach to promote community education and healing, the Jefferson Memorial Quilt Project serves as an opportunity for Jefferson County residents both to confront and reflect on our region’s painful history of racial terror and to be inspired to build a better future for Birmingham and Jefferson County.
WHY A QUILT?
The decision to make this project a quilt is deeply intentional and multi-layered. Quilting represents both the personal and the collective — a way for individuals to come together and “sew back the fabric” of our society, one stitch at a time.
The quilt’s design is simple but bold in its meaning. Each block created during community workshops will feature a patchwork of colors that reflect the varied skin tones of our community. At the center, larger blocks will display the names and dates of each victim, serving as a somber and powerful memorial. By joining these blocks together, we create a larger cloth, symbolizing a larger, more connected community, one that encircles and honors the lives of those we seek to remember.
Quilting has a long and meaningful history in the United States, particularly in African American communities. Beyond their practical warmth and comfort, quilts often serve as cherished reminders of loved ones, stitched together with worn-out clothing or repurposed fabrics that carry stories and memories. Quilts have also been used as tools of commemoration and memorial, preserving histories and honoring lives that must never be forgotten.
Our community is diverse, and the legacy of racial terror lynchings impacts all of us, though in different ways. Some may feel this history keenly and personally, while others may not immediately see its connection to their lives. Yet this project serves as an invitation to reflect, learn, and contribute to the creation of a shared memorial that speaks to our collective responsibility to reckon with this history.
If you are interested in creating further memorial artwork honoring one of Jefferson County’s lynching victims, we encourage you to connect with The Black Cherry Tree Project for additional opportunities.
THE WORKSHOPS
Aiming to foster productive dialogue around race, justice, and community unity, this project will host six free, public sewing workshops in communities across Jefferson County, during which participants will create individual squares of what will become the Jefferson County Memorial Quilt. Participants will be provided with sewing kits and instruction from Bib & Tucker Sew-Op, while educational programming surrounding the nature and importance of this history and the project will be led by The Black Cherry Tree Project during a portion of each workshop. Each individual square as well as educational programming for the workshops will be designed using research provided by the Jefferson County Memorial Project from their Victim Archives. In addition to developing educational material, JCMP will produce a visual manual for participants that will include partner information, quilting instructions, historical references, and drop-off locations for finished squares.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Each sewing workshop is two hours long, and participants should prepare to stay the entire time. The sessions will be facilitated collaboratively by Jefferson County Memorial Project, The Black Cherry Tree Project, and Bib & Tucker Sew-Op. At the beginning of each workshop, participants will receive a brief introduction to the project and an overview of the history and ramifications of lynching in Jefferson County by JCMP and TBCTP. Following the introduction, participants will sew their quilt blocks, which will be led by Bib & Tucker Sew-Op. Sewists will have the option to stitch a stenciled block or to create their own design using scrap fabric, embroidery floss. fabric markers, and sewing notions. All materials will be provided, but participants are welcome to bring their own. At the end of each workshop, participants can turn in their completed block, or take it home to finish.
COMPLETED QUILT BLOCKS + EXHIBITION
Completed quilt blocks should be turned in by Friday July 11, 2025. Blocks can be mailed to Create Birmingham or dropped off Tuesdays – Thursdays 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
310 18th Street North
Birmingham, AL 35203
Upon completion of the Quilt, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will host a public exhibition of the work alongside pieces created by local artists through The Black Cherry Project, an initiative supporting the production of art pieces in memory of Jefferson County’s 33 victims. The exhibition will also include free public programming, including youth workshops and educational programming by JCMP.
RESOURCES
A committee of local educators created the following lesson plans to be used in classrooms in and around Jefferson County, Alabama to complement the work of the Equal Justice Initiative and the Jefferson County Memorial Project. Included here are both history and language arts lesson plans intended to prepare students in grades 10-12 for a visit to EJI’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice and Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
As such, these lessons employ primary sources such as newspaper articles, images, song lyrics and poetry focused on lynching and racial terror. The lesson plans acknowledge the difficulty of the subject matter and provide strategies to prepare students and teachers for conversations and a potential field trip that will be both meaningful and productive. The plans were designed to be flexible and ready to implement in one to five days of classroom instruction.
In 2015, Bib & Tucker partnered with UAB’s Department of Art & Art History and the Birmingham Museum of Art to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches. After open sewing sessions yielded 461 quilt blocks, Sew-Op members stitched the blocks together to make three quilts that were installed in both the Selma Public Library and the Alabama Department of Archives in Montgomery during the anniversary.
Due to an overwhelmingly positive response, collaborators decided to make TMQ an annual project. From 2016-2022, Bib & Tucker members chose a civil or human rights theme and facilitated open sewing sessions and discussion. During these sessions, participants created quilt blocks that express personal feelings about the theme. Bib & Tucker members then stitched the blocks into quilts.
In 2024 The March Quilts departed its birth organization to become its own non-profit under the leadership of Bib & Tucker Sew-Op’s co-founder and former Executive Director Lillis Taylor.
For more information, visit The March Quilts website.
White Fragility
Robin DiAngelo
In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.
Ida: A Sword Among Lions and the Campaign Against Lynching
Paula Giddings
From a thinker who Maya Angelou has praised for shining “a brilliant light on the lives of women left in the shadow of history,” comes the definitive biography of Ida B. Wells—crusading journalist and pioneer in the fight for women’s suffrage and against segregation and lynchings
Just Mercy
Bryan Stevenson
From the Founder and Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy tells the story of EJI and current issues of civil and legal injustices. Pick this book if you’re interested in learning about the legacies of racial violence in our criminal justice system.
The Cross and the Lynching Tree
James H. Cone
Theologian James H. Cone explores connections between the symbols of the cross and lynching tree. He examines black history and Christian theology to explain how life can be meaningful in the face of injustice. Choose this book if you’re interested in religious connections to remembrance or for your congregation’s book club or home group.
Create Birmingham and our partners recognize the deep emotional weight of confronting the horrors and tragedy of racial terror. As we navigate this difficult history together, we encourage you to care for your own mental well-being. Below are resources to help process trauma and connect with those who are here to listen.
Telephone Resources:
If you, or someone you know is in a crisis, please refer to these hotlines in the local Birmingham area. As always, in an emergency, please dial 9-1-1.
Local Crisis Line: (205) 323-7273
Rape Response Line: (205) 323-7273
LGBT Youth Suicide National Hotline: 1-(866)-488-7386
GLBT National Hotline: 1-(888)-843-4564
Local Teen Link: (205) 328-5465
Local Kid’s Help: Line: (205) 328-5437
Senior Talk Line: (205) 328-8255
Recovery Resource Center: (205)-458-3377
Birmingham Crisis Line: (205)-323-7777
*For Suicide Prevention Support*
1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org (to chat with a counselor online)
Free & Low Cost Mental Health & Wellness Mobile Phone Apps
Calm: Available for Android & IPhone
Headspace: Available for Android & IPhone
Moodpath: Available for Android & IPhone
Pacifica: Available for Android & IPhone
Happify: Available for Android &IPhone
Talkspace: (free online consultation) Available for Android & IPhone
A List of Organizations Who Provide Resources for Mental Health & Wellness:
NO MORE MARTYRS:
National Website: https://www.nomoremartyrs.org/
Local Birmingham Chapter Telephone: (205) 440-2837
Magic City Acceptance Center:
Website: http://www.magiccityacceptancecenter.org/
Telephone: (205)-407-5799
Birmingham Counseling and Wellness:
Website: https://www.birminghamcounselingwellness.com/
Telephone: (205)-224-9181
UAB Community Counseling Clinic:
Website: http://www.uab.edu/education/counselingclinic/
Telephone: (205)-224-9181
Impact Family Counseling
Website: http://impactal.org
Telephone: (205) 916-0123
NAMI Alabama (National Alliance on Mental Illness):
Website: http://www.namialabama.org/ ;
Telephone: (334)-396-4797 or 1- 800-626-4199
UAB Student Counseling Services:
Website: http://www.uab.edu /students/counseling/
UAB Employee Assistance & Counseling Center:
Email: uabeacc@uabmc.edu.
Telephone: (205)-934-5321
find your workshop
Saturday | February 22
10 AM – 12 PM
520 16th St N, Birmingham, AL 35203
Facilitated by Sonya Muhammad and Carey Fountain
Wednesday | March 13
6 PM – 8 PM
200 Municipal Drive Hoover, AL 35216
Sunday | April 6
2 PM – 4 PM
7001 Crestwood Blvd #1202, Birmingham, AL 35210
Facilitated by Gina Mallisham, Sonya Muhammad, and Miriam Omura
Thursday | April 24
6 PM – 8 PM
109 Glenn Ave, Trussville, AL 35173
Saturday | June 28
1 PM – 3 PM
400 19th St N, Bessemer, AL 35020
Facilitated by Miriam Omura, Sonya Muhammad, and Carey Fountain
MEET THE PARTNERS
About the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI). An affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, the BCRI is a cultural and educational research center that promotes a comprehensive understanding for the significance of civil rights developments in Birmingham that changed our world. BCRI reaches more than 150,000 individuals each year through museum visits, group tours, outreach (school and community), award-winning public programs, exhibitions, and extensive archival collections. For more information, visit www.bcri.org.
About Bib & Tucker Sew-Op. Bib & Tucker Sew-Op is Birmingham’s hub for sewing activities that promote empowerment, education and economic opportunity.
Bib & Tucker Sew-op is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to cultivating skills and community for those who sew or want to sew where everyone can be a teacher and a student. We aim to promote empowerment, education, and economic opportunity through sewing.
About The Jefferson County Memorial Project (JCMP): The Jefferson County Memorial Project is a coalition in Birmingham, Alabama, that aims to recognize and honor the victims of racial violence, particularly those who were lynched during the Jim Crow era. This project is part of a broader effort to confront the legacy of racial injustice in the South and foster healing and reconciliation. A central feature of the memorial is the installation of historical markers and monuments, including efforts for a large, striking memorial in downtown Birmingham, to acknowledge the lives taken by lynchings that took place in Jefferson County.
JCMP is deeply rooted in community engagement with residents, activists, and organizations working together to ensure the stories of the victims are told and their lives are remembered. The project not only seeks to memorialize the past but also to encourage a dialogue about racial equity, healing, and the importance of collective memory in moving forward. By focusing on Birmingham, a city with a rich and painful history in the Civil Rights Movement, the project underscores the city’s commitment to confronting its past while fostering a more just future.
About The Black Cherry Tree Project. Incepted in 2021, The Black Cherry Tree Project works to memorialize victims of racial terror beginning with the 33 African-Americans who were lynched in Jefferson County, Alabama between the mid to late 1800’s and the mid 1900’s. The 33 victims are honored by local artists in an attempt to construct a legacy for each of these victims outside of the tragic nature of their deaths. Selected artists use provided research from Jefferson County Memorial Project to create a commemorative art pieces in their preferred medium to honor a victim.
Our goal is to use art to encourage productive dialogue around race and justice, and highlight local artists and Black-owned businesses, in the spirit of community unification. Artists create commemorative art works for a victim of their choice to be included in the project’s collection and publicly exhibited.
As part of The Black Cherry Tree Project, 33 commemorative black cherry tree saplings will also be planted across Birmingham in publicly accessible locations.
This project is currently supported by the National Performance Network’s (NPN) Southern Artists For Social Change grant, The Verdant Fund and individual donors.
“Jefferson Country Memorial Quilt” is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.