Gee's Bend 2025

Mrs. Edith

Going on the journey to Alabama with Memory Collectors was truly life changing. I enjoyed every aspect of the trip. Being on the bus with men and women I love, trust and who have supported me, was a gift from beginning to end. The airing of the quilts and the amazing women that continue that tradition was humbling, being able to journey to all three Legacy sites with something I never envisioned, but was so incredibly excited to have experienced it. Every single site was monumental. The historical value was hands-on history. I feel grateful, blessed, and humbled to have traveled this journey. The planning, and all that went into the trip with our team of experts was truly amazing. I am just grateful, blessed and very thankful to have been able to make this trip with Memory Collectors. A special THANK YOU to all that contributed financially to make this trip affordable for all.

Mrs. Jan

Attending the Airing of the Quilts Festival, meeting the people from Gee's Bend and seeing their beautiful quilts, as well as visiting all three of Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative Legacy sites and the Edmund Pettus Bridge, was an unforgettable, deeply moving, and powerful experience. And having that opportunity in the company of other quilters, most of whom were African-American, was a gift of kindness and friendship that was especially rare and generous to me as a white woman.

I attended college in Washington, D.C. in the 1970s and first saw Gee's Bend quilts at one of the earliest exhibits of them at the Corcoran Museum. I never forgot the incredible, seemingly simple, yet not at all simple, artistry created for practical purposes, with astounding color and design skill. As art critics at the time said, these quilts rivaled the greatest of modern artists anywhere in the world.

When I learned that a bus trip was being planned to visit Gee's Bend and that I could join, I signed up immediately. And the 'icing on the cake' was learning we'd also be visiting the Legacy Sites. I'd been to two of the sites just two years prior, but the third site only opened a year and a half ago, and I'd been wondering how I could get back to Montgomery to see the new site and make another visit to the other two, as it would take weeks to fully take in all that is there.

So this trip was everything I wanted, and encountering both the beauty of the quilts and their makers, and the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and its continuing aftermath, in the close company of kind, thoughtful, and interesting new friends touched my heart and opened my mind so I could feel safe and inspired by the incredible courage, persistence, and wise actions that were foundational to everything we saw and learned. I've no doubt this trip will continue to inspire and remind me to bring forth my own courage, creative energy, and persistence throughout the rest of my life.

I am so grateful that I was able to join the Memory Collectors from Madison, Wisconsin for the The Airing of the Quilts event in October, 2025 to Gee’s Bend, Alabama. It was a 5 day trip. We traveled on a coach bus with a wonderful group of quilters. The Memory Collectors were able to secure a film maker, Regina, from Virginia who willingly worked with the 8 Wisconsin student volunteers recruited, to assist her in the Memory Collectors’ efforts to create a documentary of this event.

Entering and exiting our bus with music blasting to the Hip-Hop song, All the Pretty Girls Walk Like This, immediately got everyone in the spirit we needed to enjoy the activities of the day. On the bus, we all sang Freedom Songs and listened to Fifty Plus (50+) music that most of us enjoyed as teenagers. The students had a delightful attitude all the while assisting anywhere needed.

This includes, but is not limited to pushing someone around in a wheelchair or simply bringing someone a cup of coffee.

As a retired educator, knowing many methods of learning, this trip was truly a “Learning By Association Method”. Not a day has passed without my recall of something learned on this trip because of the many instances of people, places and things to relate to.

My hat goes off to the creators and developers of this marvelous event. I know a great deal of planning and work went into making this a successful trip for everyone, but the “Snack Master” was the greatest idea of all. Five days of snacks provided at my beck-n-call…can’t be beat!

Mrs. Evelyn

Ms. Bianca

After months of planning, the trip to Alabama was more meaningful than I ever imagined. Three generations of my family boarded the bus alongside friends and strangers—many of whom would soon become incredibly dear to me. Just hours before departure, we received a donation that pushed us past our fundraising goal, and I stepped onto that bus filled with hope and gratitude.

Every activity on the trip was deeply impactful, and though we spent most of our time in Montgomery, the moment that will stay with me forever happened in Selma. I had the opportunity to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the same bridge where peaceful demonstrators were attacked in 1965 as they marched for voting rights, the event became known as “Bloody Sunday.”

One of those marchers was the late John Lewis, a young activist at the time who went on to become a lifelong civil rights leader and U.S. congressman. I never met him, yet his famous call to make “good trouble” has guided me throughout my life. As we crossed the bridge, not everyone chose to get off the bus and walk, but many of us did. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as we neared the monuments honoring the brave men and women who risked/lost their lives in Selma for justice and equality.

The photo I chose to share is of me standing beside the monument dedicated to John Lewis. He spent his life fighting for justice, and I carry a deep belief that if a lifetime of service was good enough for him, then it is good enough for me.

That day in Selma, my spirit grew ten feet tall. My heart expanded. My hope for today and tomorrow deepened. And the best part was that I didn’t experience it alone—I shared it in community, surrounded by family and friends. The Memory Collectors Storytelling Project: Fighting Alzheimer’s with Art, is about building a legacy—one that will live on long after we are gone, through story and fiber arts. One of the many blessings of this trip is the art that will be created by participants based on the individual and communal experiences this trip provided.