Star of Bethlehem quilt, Maria Rodgers Martin

The maker of this quilt, Maria Rodgers Martin, lived as an enslaved person on a plantation in Harrisonville, Missouri, from 1842 to 1862. During that time, she became a highly skilled quilt-maker. This quilt pattern, called Feathered Star, takes a great deal of skill to produce because of the tiny triangular fabric pieces. Like Mississippi Oak Leaf, another quilt by Martin on display, this quilt design derives from pattern-sharing traditions passed down among generations of quilters. A later example of this pattern in the Museum’s collection made by Carrie A. Hall, a white seamstress in Leavenworth, Kansas, dates to the 1930s.