One name can bridge two different worlds.
My research began by search for names in the void. In this maze, we use the name “Posey” as a visual rhyme. As it connects the African American story quilt tradition to the European schoolgirl sampler tradition.
Official archives often failed to record the complex lineages of marginalized groups. By following a shared name across disparate material traditions, we show how families used needles and thread to preserve the records that paper records ignored.