Anna Barnette

"Miss Kelly Lucas, an oral historian at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, gave a presentation about their own family and their connection to the MHARS. The presentation and the alumni that spoke there was the inspiration of why I made my quilt. Each piece of the flower represents how you slowly grow step by step from your roots to your own leaf, and find yourself connected to a bright future, or a flower. This is also the reason why I put the families that went to the schoolhouse and helped it become new again on their won leaves - to represent them growing from the Anderson Rosenwald School.

 

For example, Bishop William Ray started to learn in this schoolhouse, and after lots of hard work, he got his PhD. Bishop used this school as a platform to become a great bishop. Anderson school is just one example of how the black community grew from Madison, but it’s the only one left today, so we need to cherish the building and the people who went here."

- Anna Barnette