Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California

A celebration of the joyful power of African American quilts, featuring images of over 100 quilts, new research and essays.

Featuring vibrant images of over 100 quilts by nearly 90 individuals—the majority of whom are women and have ties to the San Francisco Bay Area—and new research, Routed West honors the resilience, self-determination, collective care and creative ingenuity of this distinctive migrant generation. Essays by scholars, curators, quilt historians and artists celebrate the joyful power of African American quilts as objects of beauty, memory and cultural reclamation within Black life, and explore the role of museums in their stewardship and preservation. This book accompanies a group exhibition of artworks drawn from the African American quilt collection at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.