From Fields of Promise: Gee’s Bend, Alabama to Bridgeport

Have you heard about Gee’s Bend, Alabama and its connection to Bridgeport?   Gee’s Bend is a remote village in west Alabama whose tenant farmers became self-sufficient land owners through an innovative Depression era program by the Farm Security Administration.  In the 1950s-60s, many people from Gee’s Bend became activists during the civil rights movement.  Some migrated north for work to cities like Bridgeport or Detroit and established “colonies” there.  Over generations, those with roots in Gee’s Bend spent time in both locations, sending children back and forth between the two communities and visiting for holidays.  Today, Gee’s Bend is known world-wide for its centuries-long tradition of quilt making and quilts by the women of Gee’s Bend have been exhibited in major museums across the country such as the Whitney in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

Eleven panels telling the Gee’s Bend-Bridgeport story are currently on display on the 3rd floor of the Burroughs-Saden library.