This piece was created to expose and capture the perplexing duality in the term and concept of “African American”. At its core, a quilt is an assemblage of historical and creative cues in the form of fabrics, shapes, symbols, textures and colors. Patchwork quilting is one of the many symbols of Americana, but the irony is quilting can trace its roots as an African storytelling and Art tradition. It was illegal for Black people to read or possess literature therefore African slaves would communicate in code by hanging quilts from cloth lines and windowsills to pass information to each other. Carrying this rich tradition from the motherland they would embellish quilts with scraps of dresses, burlap sacks, dishcloths and other textiles to form shapes, patterns and signals and often called them “Freedom Quilts”. The thought and intention of the process gave physical, even functional, form to a family or individual’s past and present. When telling the story of American history, it’s imperative that Black American history is woven into the patchwork fabric that is the quilt of America.