Stitching Truth to Power: Quilting and White Fragility

The Social Justice Sewing Academy (SJSA) is a youth art project founded by Sara Trail in 2017. SJSA helps young people create quilt art that reflects their reality and hopes about the most pressing social issues of our time. SJSA will exhibit quilts at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY from January 10 to March 10, 2020. The museum also invited SJSA to contribute a quilt block for their ongoing Block of the Month challenge. Each block reflects a museum exhibit. When the SJSA block was posted to the Block of the Month Facebook page on January 1st, the reaction swiftly revealed that white fragility is widespread in quilting, sewing, and maker spaces. Lisa analyzes this reaction and shares action steps to support the SJSA's young artists (including a chance for a free printout on her favorite foundation paper!).