In 2021, a time of social distance, Cornell University Library honored the work of Cornell alumna Toni Morrison and the 50th Anniversary of her novel The Bluest Eye by engaging Cornellians and Ithaca community members in a hands-on quilting project that they could do at home. Additionally, a series of online lectures and workshops organized by Cornell University Library, Tompkins County Public Library, and the Community Quilting Resource Center created further opportunities for connection. Project organizers also invited quilt makers from across the country to submit work inspired by Morrison’s legacy.

The first in this two-part exhibit at the Clarke Africana Library, Precious Scraps: Toni Morrison and the African American Quilting Experience, showcases the work created as part of that project and honors Morrison’s exploration of the African-American diaspora experience. In her novels Beloved and Home, Morrison recognized the importance of quilt making and the contributions to the art form by African Americans. Morrison earned her master’s degree in American Literature in 1955 from Cornell, and she received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. She died in 2019.

Precious Scraps: Toni Morrison and the African American Quilting Experience is part of the Threads of History exhibition series.