Whitework in Antebellum Maryland: A quilt study in the visual culture of whiteness

Abstract

This article argues that quilts are important sources for close readings of the visual and material culture of whiteness when placed against the backdrop of political and social history. Quilt making provides a space for multimodal learning and offers points of departure for related curricular resources that are educational tools to promote racial justice. Using a/r/tography, this research investigates the visual and material culture of whiteness and the historical context that produces its meaning. This article considers two quilt blocks from Applique Sampler: Whitework in Antebellum Maryland, a collaboratively made quilt which is part of a larger art education project that chronicles the role of visual culture in the process of creating, securing, and maintaining white supremacy in specific periods of U.S.