QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-5888

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project; Michigan State University Museum Collection; Quilts and Human Rights; Black Diaspora Quilt History Project

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum; Tennessee State Library and Archives

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

MQP11.0018; TN1867

If this quilt is owned by a museum, enter the accession number:

2011:147.1

Object label:

Lazy Man
Ruth Clement Bond (designer) and
Rose Marie Thomas (quiltmaker)
Wheeler Dam, Alabama
1934
Collection of Michigan State University Museum acc.#2011:147.1

Essay:

Ruth Clement Bond - human rights activist, educator, diploma, and art quilt designer - was part of an extraordinary family whose members, despite the racial prejudice and challenges to opportunities facing African Americans in the 20th century, successfully completed higher education graduate degress, served in many significant educational and diplomatic posts, and worked in leadership roles on behalf of African and African-American peoples.

Ruth was the fourth of seven children of Emma Clarissa Williams Clement and George C. Clement, a prominent family in Louisville, Kentucky. Both Emma and George were graduates of Livingstone College and George also had an LL.D. from Wilberforce University. George's father, James M. Bond (1863-1929), a minister and community leader served as the first director of the Kentucky Commission on Interracial Cooperation. After graduating from the Oberlin College Theological Seminary in 1893, James Bond married Jane A. Browne, who was also a graduate of Oberlin. Together they had six children, including Max Sr. Ruth's mother Emma, a friend of the great singer Marian Anderson, was, in 1946, the first black woman to be chosen as "National Mother of the Year". Her father was a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church and an outspoken advocate against racisim.

After completing a bachelor's degree in English and an MA in English from Northwestern University, Ruth married J. Max Bond. Ruth and Max moved to California where Max completed a Ph.D. in sociology and Ruth began a doctorate in English. In 1934 they moved to northern Alabama where Max was employed as an administrator by the Tennessee Valley Authority and where he and Ruth advocated for better conditions for the workers and their families.

In 1944, Max and Ruth entered the U.S. Diplomatic Services and held posts in Malawi, Haiti, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, and Liberia. At each post they initiated and/or served in leadership roles in higher education and humanitarian efforts, with a special focus by Ruth on the needs of women and youth.

J. Max Bond and Ruth bond had three children: Jane Bond Howard, Ph.D. Professor of European History, Lincoln University; the late J. Max Bond, Jr., Dean of School of Architecture, City College of New York; and George Clement Bond, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Teacher's College, Columbia University. Julian bond, their nephew, helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and was the chairman of the National Association of Colored People (NAACP).

Ruth Bond was a quilt designer, not a maker of quilts, and was only known to have designed the TVA quilts. There was, however, at least one known quiltmaker in her family. In the fall of 2011, when Julian Bond heard that his aunt's quilt was at the Michigan State University Museum he emailed "You may not know that my great grandmother, Jane Bond, was a quilter too." Jane Bond's story was published in Southern Quilting, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/quilt/bond.html (accessed November 19, 2011) and in Gladys-Marie Frys, Stitched from the Soul: Slave Quilts from the Ante-Bellum South, New York: Dutton Studio Books in association with the Museum of American Folk Art, 1990, pp. 32-33.

The Lazy Man Quilt was acquired in 2011 from Jane bond, via Stella Rubin Antiques, with support from the Office of the Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, the Michigan Quilt Project Endowment, and the Harriet Clarke Endowment Fund.

This quilt, one of Ruth Bond's TVA designs, incorporates a black TVA worker who is in the throes of choosing between the easygoing life he knew before his TVA job, represented by the woman on the right and the musical instrument, and the government TVA job, represented by the hand of the official government. To Ruth Bond, the meaning of this quilt was always obvious: "He chose the TVA job. It has a hopeful message. Things were getting better, and the black worker had a part in it."

Rose Marie Thomas who did the piecing and quilting, on this version of the design, later said that, "The quilt represents us, I mean the black race, the opportunity the black race had through this government to raise themselves up, not to be a frivolous set of people and to have higher ideals and try to accomplish them in various ways." In an interview conducted in 1991, Thomas who had graduated from Atlanta University and who was in public education most of her life, also said this "was my first and last quilt" although she later enjoyed crocheting.

Only four examples of the Lazy Man (also known as Man with a Guitar) quilt design are known to have been originally made: one by Grace Reynolds Tyler (location unknown but possibly owned by a Tyler descendant), one by Rose Lee Cooper (now owned by the TVA Historic Collection, Knoxville, TN) one by a quiltmaker whose name is not known (published in the NAACP magazine CRISIS, current location unknown) and this one by Rose Marie Thomas. A contemporary copy of this quilt was made in 1992 by Hortense Beck of Topeka, Kansas, and is in the collection of the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The quilts have been included in major exhibitions on American craft and quilts. Michigan State University was priviledged to have the opportunity to acquire this rare, original example of Ruth Bond's work.

From, Ruth Clement Bond: Quilt Art, Activism, and an Extraordinary African American Life exhibit.

Quilt's title:

Lazy Man

Subject of the quilt:

New opportunities for blacks building dams

Quilt top made by:

Thomas, Rose Marie

Other people who worked on this quilt:

Bond, Ruth Clement

If you are the quilt owner, how did you acquire this quilt?

Purchased the quilt

Where the quilt was made, city:

Wheeler Dam Village

Where the quilt was made, state:

Alabama (AL)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

Time period:

1930-1949

When was the quilt finished?

1934

Why was the quilt made?

Art or personal expression

Quilt is presently used as:

Museum collection

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's state:

Georgia (GA)

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's birth date:

4/1/1902

Quiltmaker's birthplace, city:

Americus

Quiltmaker's birthplace, state:

Georgia

Quiltmaker's birthplace, country:

United States

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

3/11/1997 in Columbus, GA

Quiltmaker's ethnic background/tribal affiliation:

African American

Quiltmaker's educational background:

Graduated Atlanta University

Quiltmaker's occupation:

Teacing in North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' occupation:

Worked for the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) from 1934-1942 as the Education Director.

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

62"

How long is the quilt?

79"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

What color is the quilt?

Black; Blue; Brown; Green; Orange; Yellow

Quilt's condition:

Fair/worn

Damage:

Discoloration or dyes ran; Fading; Stains

Repairs:

Stabilized with netting

What is inscribed on the quilt?

Ruth Clement Bond 622 A Street NE Washington DC 20002 TVA Quilt 26

Method used to make the inscription:

Attached label

Location of inscription:

on back

Describe the quilt's layout:

Medallion or framed center

Number of quilt blocks:

1

Medallion size:

29" x 46"

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Number of borders:

1

Describe the borders:

16"

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Solid/plain

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Applique

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

What color is the back of the quilt?

Orange

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

1

Describe the back:

Solid/plain

Materials used in the quilt binding:

Cotton

Fabric structure of the binding:

Plain weave

How is the binding made?

Straight grain; Back turned to front

What is the width of the binding (measure on the top only)?

half inch - one inch

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Cotton

How thick is the quilt?

Medium (3/16?)

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Thread type used for the quilting:

cotton

Color of thread used in the quilting:

white, black

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

6

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

7

Width between quilting lines:

3/4"

Describe the quilting designs used:

In the medallion: vertical, single, parallel lines 3/4" apart in black and white thread. In the border: horizontal, single parallel lines 3/4" apart in white thread behind giant leaves with spines.

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

This quilt was designed by Ruth Clement Bond, the wife of Max Bond, a personnel officer with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Wheeler Dam Village, Alabama and the highest ranking black man in the TVA. Before moving to Alabama, Ruth had completed her M.A. in English from Northwestern University. While at Wheeler Dam she embraced the lifestyle of the wives of the workers. She furnished her home with products made from local materials and built by local workers. After attending some of the local quiltings, she designed (on brown paper bags) some story quilts. The story of the quilt is told by its maker, Rose Marie Thomas. “It tells the story of what was happening for the black man on the TVA construction sites. The women were excited about the new opportunities, and they wanted to show them in their quilt designs. The man with the banjo is full of frivolity. He is between the hand of the government [TVA] and the hand of a woman. He must choose between the government job and the life he has known.” Another quilt from this pattern was made by Grace Tyler in 1934. She called the pattern Lazy Man. Ruth Bond said the significance of the pattern was simply a positive message of the black man’s part in the rebirth and growth of the economy. “Things were getting better, and the black worker had a part in it.” She described the white hand representing “the black man moving away from the hand of the law. In spite of the law, he is moving to become independent and to become an important part of society.” This information was excerpted from the essay, “The TVA Quilts,” in Soft Covers For Hard Times: Quiltmaking & the Great Depression, by Merikay Waldvogel, Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, TN, 1990. p78-82. Ruth Clement Bond was born to George Clement (Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church) and Emma Williams (the first black woman to be named American Mother of the Year in 1946) on May 22, 1904 in Louisville, KY. She received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in English from Northwestern University. She married J. Max Bond in 1931. He had degrees in sociology and economics from USC in 1934. He was a personnel officer at the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1934-1938; dean at Dillard University in New Orleans from 1938-1940; and administrator at Tuskegee Institute from 1940-1944. He joined the foreign service in 1944 and was President of the University of Liberia in the early 1950s. Ruth was an educator and civic leader. She was the head of the English department at Kentucky State College and after 1944 she taught at universities in Haiti, Liberia and Malawi. She worked with women's and youth groups in Afghanistan, Tunisia and Sierra Leone. Ruth and Max had 3 children, a girl and two boys. Their nephew is civil rights leader, Julian Bond.

Describe the source of the pattern:

Designed by Ruth Clement Bond

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

A New Deal for Quilts, The International Quilt Museum, Janneken Smucker, curator, Lincoln, NE, October 6, 2023 - April 20, 2024.

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

“The TVA Quilts,” in Soft Covers For Hard Times: Quiltmaking & the Great Depression, by Merikay Waldvogel, Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, TN, 1990. p78-82. Lucille Russell "Quiltmaker Visits Her Unique Creation" The Albany Herald, 11 December, 1991, 1-B.

Source of the information on this quilt:

Museum employee

Ownership of this quilt is:

Public- Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's name:

Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's city:

East Lansing

Quilt owner's county:

Ingham

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Purchase

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

Stella Rubin antiques

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

The quilt was made to be used for:

Artwork/wall hanging

Who photographed this quilt?

Pearl Yee Wong

Copyright holder:

MSU Board of Trustees