History, Quilting and Celebrating Women

I’ve never been a huge fan of history, I think in large part because what is written about in history books is so male-centered and male-dominated. So often when I do see mention of women in traditional and even some non-traditional history books they seem to be overwhelmingly women who have either participated in the “male world” as soldiers or explorers or are talked about in relation to their famous husbands. Women should not only be included in history if they are incredibly famous or take on male roles and perform them exceptionally. Of course these women should be included in history, but the lives of everyday women need to show up in history’s pages too.

In Denver, Colorado two playwrights, Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek wrote a story about American pioneer women, gathering material for their play from journal entries written by pioneer women themselves and recollections of these women. This play broke new ground, since most of the history books and literary works about the American pioneer era to date highlighted the experiences of “outlaws, cowboys, gold miners and trappers,” effectively ignoring the experiences of women. Newman and Damashek decided to tell the stories of pioneer women through the use of quilts, and I’ve included an excerpt from a review of the play that describes their rationale below.



“Newman and Damashek realized the potency of quilting, an almost-universal activity among pioneer women, as a metaphor. Made of scraps and bits — pieces of dresses, blankets, sheets, pants, fragments of a young girl's worn-out skirt — quilts were used to swaddle babies, warm the sick, shelter sleepers through the bitter winter nights and cover the dead. They served as gifts and charitable offerings; they were created to mark such significant transitions as births, weddings and coming of age. Women quilted outside in the welcome solitude of a May afternoon, or met in festive groups to sew, share food and dance. Quilts married gritty practicality with artistic expression as women sewed their deepest thoughts and longings into their panels. Newman and Damashek used the idea of the quilt not only to celebrate these quiet, industrious lives, but as a profoundly female way of structuring their play; each scene is inspired by and reflects on a traditional quilt pattern.”

It is refreshing to hear about ordinary women’s lives being explored and shared in a way that does not follow the traditional, male, linear and sequential model that many plays follow, but that the playwrights structured their piece in a way that reinforced the significance of these women. Subjects like those brought out in this play need to be a part of what we regard as legitimate history.

So often I feel like in my own small efforts to uncover, expose and eliminate sexism, I forget to recognize so many of the positive things going on in the world that celebrate women. In the process, these celebrations elevate women above the place they are given in society and enrich the world we live in by uncovering alternatives to a male-centric, elitist way of viewing the world.