“Laverne Brackens: The Numerous Awards and Recognitions For Her Artistry and Legacy in African-American Quilt Making” Laverne Henry Brackens was born April 12, 1927,in Fairfield, to parents Willie and Gladys Durham Henry.
Her mother and grandmother were skilled and creative quilt makers which would be classified as improvisational with a free-form style, which did not conform to traditional quilting patterns. This style was enhanced by vibrant colored cotton fabrics often just scraps and pieces lending to a variety of shapes and sizes pieced together for a unique-looking quilt.
As a young child Laverne often helped her mother tack these odd-shaped pieces together. Her mother had started a black quilting group probably by the early 1930s, which provided friendship and the sharing of materials, quilting ideas with other black women. This was a time when it was a necessity to make warm bedding that quilts provided. It wasn’t a mere hobby but a vital skill along with other needed sewing (clothing) projects.
Laverne Brackens went on to marry and have eight children and did not get involved with quilting again until she retired from a job as a cook in 1987, following a debilitating accident. She started in earnest to make quilts with her mother and the quilting group. She became a proficient, highly productive and historical quilt maker.
1996: Laverne Henry Brackens and mother, Gladys Durham Henry, exhibit family quilts at the High Museum in Atlanta, Ga., in an exhibition entitled, “Four Generations of African-American Quilt Makers.” Information from this exhibit evolved into a catalog, “Four Generations of African- American Quilt Makers: Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”
1999: Brackens quilts showcased in the Texas Folk Life Resources exhibit, “Quilts of Color: Three Generations of Quilters in an Afro-Texan Family” at the University of Texas San Antonino Institute ofTexas Cultures.
2001-2002: “Story Telling: One Stitch at a Time” exhibit of Laverne Brackens quilts at the Texas Memorial Museum of Science and History in Austin. This museum has two of her quilts.
2006: On the basis of the exhibition theme established at the High Museum in Atlanta, Ga., 10 years earlier, another exhibit was held at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, Calif., with an exhibit entitled, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Four Generations of African American Quilt Makers” Oct. 28, 2006: Laverne Brackens was featured in a documentary on the television program, “Texas Country Reporter (Program Episode #1,000), “Family Quilts” with Bob Phillips, reporter.
2011: Laverne Brackens, Afro-American Quilter receives the National Foundation for the Arts (NEA) Heritage Fellow Award for her lifetime contributions for this art form.
Feb. 15, 2015: Laverne Brackens’ quilt in an exhibit for Black History Month at the Lenora Rolla Museum in Fort Worth, with subsequent articles in the Fort Worth Star Telegram and the North Dallas Gazette.
October 2020 Issue of the Texas Highways Magazine is an article entitled, “How One Fairfield Woman is Keeping Afro-American Quilting Tradition Alive.”
2022: The Eli Leon Collection of Afro-American Quilts (about 3,000 quilts), which included quilts of Laverne Brackens and her daughter, Sherry Byrd, are given to the University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Oct. 13, 2022, the Trinity Star Arts Council in Fairfield hosts a tribute to Laverne Brackens entitled, “Art of the Quilt,” where Mayor Kenny Hughes presents a proclamation: Oct. 13, 2022 as Laverne Brackens Day.
On South U.S. Hwy 75(South Fairway) in Fairfi eld there is large banner on the front yard fence, “Quilts of Color.” Be sure to inquire about the availability and purchase of one of Laverne Brackens historic quilts.
Patricia Pratt is with the Freestone County Historical Museum.
