Columbia Gorge Museum exhibit documents more than 150 years of Black family history through quilts

An exhibit currently running at the Columbia Gorge Museum features a collection of quilts made by an enslaved woman and her family, carefully preserved for more than 150 years.

The exhibit, “Ms. Molly’s Voice: Freedom and Family Spoken in Fabric,” is the first time the full collection has been on display for the public.

It encompasses more than a dozen quilts, the first of which was made when Molly was just 13 years old. She had recently been sold to a family in Tennessee, where she was raped by one of her owners.

“She saved that quilt for her family to understand the challenges that she was going through,” said Jim Tharpe, Molly’s great-great-grandson and the current caretaker of the quilt collection.

Tharpe said his great-great-grandmother continued to intentionally save quilts whose patterns carried messages of perseverance, freedom and hope.

The most recent quilt in the collection was made for Tharpe himself as a high school graduation gift. It was made by his grandmother, who was his last ancestor to receive quilting lessons directly from Molly.

“It’s unbelievable,” Tharpe said. “Every day that I get up, I look for a way to save these quilts and find a way to … say, ‘This is what my people achieved.’”

“It’s something that I cherish and I carry with me daily,” he said.

“Ms. Molly’s Voice” is also one of the first new exhibits the Columbia Gorge Museum has put on in many years.

Executive Director Louise Palermo said the show has attracted a fair number of quilters, as well as community members.

“Their first reaction is to be amazed by the quality of the work – the artistry that has gone in every quilt – but I’ve watched people with tears in their eyes when they read the story,” she said. “The impact of what that means has been visual… and it’s been wonderful.”

“Ms. Molly’s Voice: Freedom and Family Spoken in Fabric,” runs through July 31 at the Columbia Gorge Museum in Stevenson, Washington.

Jim Tharpe and Louise Palermo spoke to “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller. To listen to their full conversation, please visit opb.org