Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California

Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California is an exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts that traces the flow and flourishing of quilts in the context of the Second Great Migration—the mass movement of approximately five million African Americans from the rural South to cities in the North and West between 1940 and 1970. Organized around more than 80 artworks by more than 70 individuals with ties to the San Francisco Bay Area, the show threads together stories of collective care, resilience, and creativity as migrants carried quilts for warmth, as containers for ancestral memory, and as emblems of cultural survival. Through kaleidoscopic patterns, colors, and forms, the exhibition highlights artistic approaches such as repurposing work clothes, improvisational piecing, pattern-based quilting, and tying, practiced by those who carried these works out of the South. Quilts by migrants from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas—regions heavily represented in the westward movement—reflect how these works became cherished heirlooms. Many artists were teachers, nurses, seamstresses, truck drivers, grocery store managers, and shipyard workers who used quilt-making to reclaim time for themselves, pursuing creative labor that could be meditative, centering, and liberating. The exhibition also showcases the work of multiple generations of quiltmakers within families, while contemporary artists demonstrate how traditions of African American quilting remain alive today. Routed West is part of the museum’s participation in Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, an initiative of Craft in America.

When: September 18, 2026 through January 17, 2027.

Venue: National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.

Curators: Elaine Y. Yau, Associate Curator and Academic Liaison, with Matthew Villar Miranda, Former Curatorial Associate; organized by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

What to expect: More than 80 artworks by more than 70 artists, including quilts from the Eli Leon Living Trust (examples shown include Sherry Ann Byrd and Irene Bankhead’s *Cultural Merger at Crossroads* and Alice Neal’s *Mary Bright Commemorative Quilt* with blocks such as Dresden Plate, Monkey Wrench, and Wild Goose Chase). The exhibition is structured thematically to explore migration, memory, labor, and family tradition.

Sponsorship and conservation: Funding for the conservation of the quilt collection was generously provided by Angela and David Filo; a grant from the Bank of America Art Conservation Project; the Save America’s Treasures program of the Institute of Museum and Library Services; and the Office of the Chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley. Additional support provided by Art Bridges.

Note: This exhibition is part of the museum’s multi-faceted participation in *Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026*, a nationwide initiative of Craft in America.