The Housetop: A Gee’s Bend Family Story — Where Our Hands, Our Songs, and Our Stories Meet

KThis video tells the story of the Housetop quilt pattern as it lives inside my own family line in Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Long before the world recognized the quilts of Gee’s Bend as art, the women there quilted together — in circles, in cabins, in each other’s homes — sewing for survival, for warmth, for worship, and for one another. Through photos, archival images, and video clips, this piece traces the Housetop pattern from the 1920s to today. It begins with my great‑grandmother, Martha Jane Pettway, and follows the women who shaped, carried, and transformed this pattern across generations: Prissy Carson, Henretta Pettway, Rachel Carey George, Arie Pettway, Lucy T. Pettway, Lottie Mooney, Aolar Carson Mosley, Sue Willie Seltzer, Delia Bennett, Lucy P. Pettway, Creola Bennett Pettway, Mary L. Bennett, Loretta Pettway, Lillie Mae Pettway, Ella Mae Bennett Irby, Nellie Mae Abrams, Lucy Mingo, Irene Williams, Linda Pettway, Quinnie Pettway, Rita Mae Pettway, Mary Lee Bendolph, Essie Bendolph Pettway, and many more. Today, the tradition continues through Andrea Pettway Williams and Mary Ann Pettway, who carry the Housetop forward with the same strength, creativity, and spirit that defined the generations before them. This is not just a pattern. It’s a family story. A community story. A living tradition still unfolding. Featuring: • Archival photos and documented quilts • Family photos • Video clips of Gee’s Bend quilters • Historical context and oral history • A narrative rooted in lineage, memory, and lived experience About This Series: This video is part of my ongoing work to document, honor, and preserve the residents and traditions of Gee’s Bend — especially the women whose hands shaped these patterns long before the world was watching.