LaShawnda Crowe’s Lynch Quilt appears to have truly forced the public to deal with the oft-ignored realities of lynching in America. It features a life-size image of Laura Nelson, an African-American woman hung in Oklahoma in 1911. The quilt’s featured photo is the only image discovered to date of an African-American woman hanging in a noose. The quilt is now on display at the Indianapolis Central Library in Indianapolis, Indiana on the third floor for all to see as they exit the elevator in the library. It has evoked a range of emotions from its viewers ranging from outrage to sadness to curiosity.
The title of the quilt is “Her Name Was Laura Nelson” and the artist designed it with the goal of prompting discussion and exploring the history and consequences of racial violence, in the United States, through the textile tradition of quilting. It appears to have started a movement entitled the Lynch Quilts Project and they are already in the process of creating their next lynch quilt entitled “Red Rum Summer”.
You can learn more about this specific quilt and the Lynch Quilt Project via the video or the resources provided below.