An Open Book to Freedom, April Shipp

Artwork Overview

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An Open Book to Freedom, 2012
Where object was made: Rochester Hills, Michigan, United States
Material/technique: satin; hand appliqué; cotton fabric; silk dupioni; lace; tulle; photo transfer paper; organza; machine quilting; machine appliqué
Accession number: EL2017.046
Not on display

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Label texts

And Still We Rise

1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book that changes the way Americans view slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a sensational best-seller that sold 300,000 copies within a year. The book tells a story of human perseverance that starts on a plantation in Kentucky and chronicles a family’s search for freedom by escaping across the Ohio River and north to Canada. Stowe’s novel gave slavery a human face, and reminded 19th-century Americans of the reasons enslaved African Americans risked their lives to gain freedom.
In the quilt, Harriet Beecher Stowe holds up her novel, while a vortex of images explodes from the pages of her book.

Exhibitions