Artwork Details
- Title
- In My Akuabaa Form
- Artist
- Date
- 2000
- Location
- Dimensions
- 95 × 86 in. (241.3 × 218.4 cm)
- Copyright
- © 2000, Myrah Brown Green
- Credit Line
- Gift of Fleur S. Bresler
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- cotton fabric and cotton batt
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Figure — full length
- Dress — African dress
- Dress — Ghanaian dress
- Object Number
- 2023.40.19
Artwork Description
Myrah Brown Green
born 1956, Boston, MA
resides Brooklyn, NY
In My ??Akuabaa Form
2000
cotton fabric and cotton batting
The Akuabaa figure, a Ghanaian symbol of protection of mothers and their children, stands as the focal point of this quilt. Around it, triangles arranged into a quilting pattern known as “flying geese” conjure a sense of flight and freedom.
One of quilter Myrah Brown Green’s most cherished childhood memories is having dessert with her mother at the lunch counter of the Woolworth department store in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This quilt honors the four Black college students from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University who made those memories possible.
In 1960, the students staged a sit-in at the segregated ?Woolworth's counter?? in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their persistent, nonviolent direct actions led to the desegregation of the lunch counter and generated a larger commitment to civil disobedience for civil rights.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur S. Bresler, 2023.40.19, © 2000, Myrah Brown Green
We Gather at the Edge: Contemporary Quilts of Black Women Artists, 2025