*    Today we watched the video "Hearts and Hands" and turned in our first essay.
    *    Just a reminder that the videos are on reserve at the library if you missed class!!

 *    Overview: The video "Hearts and Hands" was about women during the 1820's into the beginning of the 20th century.  It showed their
        hardships as they dealt with suffrage and expressed their emotions the only way they could, through needle work.  History was
        expressed through the needle work of these women, mostly quilts.
    *    Both black and white women did needle work although just as always the middle class white women are focused on.
    *    The quilts were made to keep warm as well as to show political views through the specific stitching.

*    New England, 1820:
    *    Many homes were considered manufacturies because the women produced so much needle work.
    *    When husbands were away at see the women expressed their feelings of anticipation through the images on the quilts: ships on dark
            seas, compasses,etc.
    *    Children were sent to work at the mills if there was no husband to support them, one child named Lucy worked from 4:30am
            to 6:30pm, 14hrs. a day, 6 days a week
    *    Lowell Offering was a literary magazine published by the girls working in the mills, they had no public voices so they used the
            magazine to tell their stories.
    *    In the mills they made cotton calico as well as cloth for the slaves

*    Southern women not only did their needle work all night but worked on the plantation all day if their husbands were gone.
    *    Black women tended and picked cotton in the fields with the men and then quilted all night.
    *    Black women could not speak their native language or express their religion so their quilts were used to express whatever they
            wanted.
    *    For many slaves the quilts were just scraps pieced together but necessary for survival during the cold times.
    *    Free blacks and sympathetic whites started the Underground Railroad.
        *    Quilts were hung on the cloths lines of those who supported the Railroad.
        *    Harriet Tubman was a black women that helped rescue many from slavery
        *    Abolitionists made quilts that displayed paths to freedom; it was a form of non-violent protest (included images of Jacobs Ladder,
                Railroads, the North Star, etc.).
    *    Elizabeth Kekley was a slave whom bought her son and moved to Washington D.C. to quilt for Mrs. Lincoln

*    The battle between the North and South broke out.
    *    This is when the symbols of the hearts and hands started to be knitted on the quilts.
    *    The women had to provide the soldiers with bandages, quilts, and clothes.
    *    1863: The Emancipation Proclamation (Lincoln freed the slaves)
    *    U.S. Sanitary Commission made quilts and other needle work to gain money for the Union to provide food and clothing to the men
            on the front line.
    *    Four years later, Southern troops surrendered
    *   Lincoln was shot, Kekley stayed with his wife as her seamstress and confidant(she lost her son in the war).
    *    1865: Nashville, Tennessee
        *    Still making quilts, women helped rebuild the homes and communities after the war.
        *    Together women quilted, talking about everyday stories and problems.

*    Abigail Dunaway was a young girl whose family joined the first migration to gain land in Oregon.
    *    As they traveled quilts kept them warm and were used to protect them from the wind over their wagons.
    *    The path of the migration went through many Indian reservations and the women noticed the unique designs of the Indians' quilts.
    *    Dunaway was forced to support her family and had to turn to the only thing she knew, her quilting.
    *    Women started to quilt what they called "crazy quilts," full of wild designs and vibrant colors.
        *    The women's magazines started publishing directions on how to make these crazy quilts
    *    Suffrage leaders suggested to put away needles and start to fight for the rights of women.
    *    Dunaway sold her business of needle work and started working for a magazine.

*    1873: Women Christian Temperance Union
    *    Women wanted to put an end to drinking in Ohio, closed 3,000 taverns!
    *   WCTU expressed their union with banners
    *    Dunaway continued to fight suffrage and finally, legislation passed the right to all to vote

*    Many quilts were left behind representing the hardships and bonding of the women by hearts and hands.
 

Screening: "Hearts and Hands"
*    Part of recuperative 70s scholarship, to recover art (quilting, knitting, decorative painting of homely objects) that had been belittled as
        craft.
*    Tthe scholars further looked at the political implications and content of the needlework as if it were an archive, as a way of tracing
        history through needlework.
*    It was overwhelming white women's work but some slave and Native American works have been recovered.

Film Notes
*    New England (1820-40): Maritime Wives
    *    Made needlework during months of waiting and worry while husbands were at sea.
    *    Regular depiction of sea images

*    South
    *    For white women, elaborate designs imply of generous leisure and refinement.
    *    For slave women, since native language and religion were banned, incorporated African heritage into the rhythm and design of quilts
            as a way  preserving culture; also provided basic necessity of warmth in the face of  improper provisions given by plantation master.
    *    Underground Railroad: use geometric patterns on quilts to show escaping slaves the way to freedom; also used them as signs of safe
            houses that would harbor fugitive slaves; patterns of Jacob's Ladder, Underground Railroad, and North Star; sold quilts to help
            abolitionist cause.
     *    Civil War
            *    Women made quilts for husbands and sons with patriotic messages.
            *    Government called on women to help clothe an army in need; Confederate women learn to spin and weave own fabric after cut
                    off from the North's textile mills.
            *    In North, sold quilts to provide army with provisions and improve care at hospitals.

*    Moving Westward
    *    Quilts charted progress across the plains in the largest migration in American history.
    *    Incorporated Native American designs into needlework; patterns of Prairie Sun, Cactus Basket, Feathered Star, Rocky Mountain
            Road.
    *    After transcontinental railroad built, in the Northwest region, see "crazy" quilts that feature dizzying designs.

*    Temperance Cause
    *    Women suffered through the domestic violence caused by alcohol abuse
    *    Used quilts as banners to put the issue into the public arena; patterns of  T for temperance, temperance goblet, and drunkard's path.
    *    Further took up the causes of suffrage, eight hour work day and equal pay for equal work.

*    For Tuesday, quiz on Aptheker, "Hearts and Hands," and Sanger readings.