Help Us Keep North Lawndale in Stitches

If you, or someone you know has a sewing machine that you would like to lend or donate to the North Lawndale African American Heritage Project, please let me know. The machine will be used to help us document the African American experience in North Lawndale through the quilting process. You may read more about the project and our progress by reviewing this blog. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Meet Us at the African Festival of the Arts Green Pavilion!!!

The North Lawndale African American Heritage Quilting Project has been invited to participate in the African Festival of the Arts Green Pavilion. We will provide a workshop on community building through gardening, storytelling and quilting. We will participate between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm on one of the three days of the festival. We will confirm the exact date shortly. We hope you can make the Festival and stop by the Pavilion. We have provided information on the Pavilion below.


African Festival of the Arts Green Pavilion

GREEN PAVILION FACT SHEET

African American Heritage Quilting Project Keeps North Lawndale in Stitches

A group of North Lawndale organizations and community residents are combining time honored traditions of storytelling and quilting to strengthen the community’s social fabric. The North Lawndale African American Heritage Quilting Project is inviting North Lawndale residents to share their stories and participate in the research of the history and culture of African American residents and express their findings in a community quilt. Depending on what community participants decide, the quilts could celebrate family traditions, famous people from North Lawndale, the relationships between African American and Jewish experiences in North Lawndale; the Civil Rights Movement; the  African influence in Mexico; the Migration of African Americans from the South, etc.  The partners include Art Forward, the Better Boys Foundation (BBF), Historic K-Town, the Lawndale Historic and Cultural Society, Sankofa Safe Child Initiative and the Urban Art Retreat. Valerie F. Leonard, a local resident and community development consultant, is the project manager.  The project planning committee includes Billy Brooks, Jacquelyn Gipson, Dianna Long, Blanche Suggs, Lisa Wilcoxen, Ife Williams Martel Williams and Annetta Wilson.

“We don’t care whether or not participants have experience with quilting, or how long they have lived or worked in North Lawndale. All are welcome to participate”, Ms. Leonard said. “We are very fortunate to have local artists and quilters serve as lead facilitators to guide us through the process.” The project includes a series of resident led workshops covering the history of the African American experience in North Lawndale; opportunities for residents to tell their own stories; demonstrations of quilting and embroidery techniques and lessons learned from community quilting projects across the country.  

Martel Williams participates in After School Matters with BBF, and serves one of the youth facilitators of the project. “Whenever people talk about North Lawndale, they talk about crime, drugs and gangs”, Williams said. “They don’t think about the good things like our community gardens or our positive role models”.  Jazz impresario Ramsey Lewis, filmmaker Robert Townsend and news CLTV news anchor Tanya Francisco all have North Lawndale roots. Other notables include former Congressman Gus Savage who published the Lawndale Booster Newspaper; Brenetta Howell Barrett, the first African American woman from the community to run for Congress; former Bulls players Mickey Johnson, Linton Johnson and Randy Brown; blues singers Otis Clay and Dinah Washington, and actor Andre Brougher.  The community’s most famous former resident is Martin Luther King Jr., who moved his family to the 1500 block of Hamlin to protest deplorable living conditions in the 1960’s.

The project is being documented online at http://northlawndalequilting.blogspot.com.  Visitors will find project updates, brochures, meeting notes, biographies of prominent African Americans from North Lawndale, and quilting resources  and videos of quilting demonstrations and performances from North Lawndale performers.  Even though the blog is a work in progress, arts and crafts organizations from all over the country are beginning to promote the blog as a resource on their own websites.

The North Lawndale African American Heritage Quilting project is open to local schools, churches, block clubs, community based organizations, residents and anyone else who wants to participate. Finished products will be displayed during a community gathering for Black History Month 2012. For further information about the project and how you may get involved, contact                    Valerie F. Leonard at 773-521-3137 or valeriefleonard@msn.com.

You Are More Than Welcome to Participate

Participation Letter Community

We Are Looking for Project Participants and Supporters

We are looking for people from the community to participate. Please download the brochure for further details.

Brochure 2

Urban Art Retreat to Conduct Ongoing Workshops

N. Lawndale residents who would like to participate in creating a quilt about the history of N. Lawndale African American people are welcome to register with URBAN ART RETREAT for a group workshop to create a very artistic quilt along with others in a group setting.

We will share African American History of N. Lawndale and you are welcome to bring info. about the neighborhood. Together we will create some artistic 6"X6" squares to become part of a larger quilt endeavor. Family trees, civil rights scenes, famous people who lived here, and familiar scenes from the neighborhood will be just some of the subject matter for the quilt pieces created at UAR for this community-wide historical project!

We will be working in mixed media. Adults can participate on Saturdays from 11-2p.m. 

and youth can participate as part of our Sat. youth program from 1-4 on Saturdays. No experience is needed. It is free to participate. And you can do something worthwhile and participate in your own community!  

If you have a group of youth or adults who would like to schedule a day/time at UAR just 

for your group to create quilt squares under the direction of an artist, please send your info. to our email address. 

To RSVP, please send an email to contact@urbanartretreat with your name & number, 

plus what day you plan to attend.

thank you, Dianna

Dianna C. Long

The URBAN ART RETREAT

1957 S. Spaulding Ave. 

Chicago, Il. 60623

Dianna@urbanartretreat.com

www.urbanartretreat.com

(773) 542-9126

Gathering Intel for the African American Heritage of North Lawndale

Thanks to everyone who was able to participate in our online discussion to gather information on the African American heritage in North Lawndale. Please note that it's not too late to participate. As we think about sharing our experiences in North Lawndale, I'd like to ask a few questions. Feel free to answer as many as you'd like.

1. What are your strongest memories of North Lawndale?
2. What are some of your family traditions?
3. What activities do you remember from your block club?
4. What did you like about the parties?
5. Are there people who stand out in your mind that should be honored? If so, who? (they don't need to be famous)
6. When I mention North Lawndale, what images do you see (don't hold back)
7. Are you willing to share pictures, poems, websites, or anything that we can post onto the blog?

Check out http://northlawndalequilting.blogspot.com and provide feedback as to what you would add or improve.  You may post comments or send e-mails to valeriefleonard@msn.com.

Partners: Art Forward, Better Boys Foundation (BBF), Historic K-Town, North Lawndale Historical and Cultural Society, Urban Art Retreat