We Are All Warmed by the Same Sun

Helen Murrell’s quilt reflects on the history of the inhumane Tuskegee Syphilis Study. From 1932 to 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service enrolled six hundred Black men (nearly two-thirds of whom were afflicted with syphilis) in a study designed to record the natural course of the disease when left untreated. Researchers never collected informed consent. They then withheld treatment, leading many to suffer disease complications, permanent brain damage, and death.  

In response, Murrell’s quilt emphasizes our shared humanity. The title references the civil rights activist and theologian, William Stuart Nelson’s assertation, “Mankind is supported by one universe—the same earth feeds us, the same sun warms us, and the same stars shine upon us all.” 

Murrell used echo stitches—a free motion quilting technique of closely aligning rows of stitches—to conjure the warming embrace of sunlight. The artist noted, “I made this quilt hoping that it will remind us all that we are ultimately one family. If we are to give justice to the men who were the subjects of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, we should not ever forget our own humanity, nor let others forget theirs.”