Quilters from Gee’s Bend, Ala., known as Boykin, sang songs and told stories of their youth and their faith as they presented their work at the Tarble Arts Center on Sunday.

Lucy Marie Mingo, an 81-year-old quilter from Gee’s Bend, spoke about how along with quilting, the Civil Rights Movement was her passion.

“When it first began, I always wanted to be there,” she said. “I would go everyday and that was where I wanted to be.”

Mingo told the crowd about the rallies and how they sometimes got dangerous.

“One day, when we were marching they said something about tear gas and arresting people, so I moved to the back of the line,” she said. “ I had children at home I had to cook for and take to school; they couldn’t do that if I was in jail.”

Although it was difficult, Mingo said the first time she voted was one of the best days of her life.

“We weren’t asking for much, just a little thing: to vote,” Mingo said. “After the first time I voted, I got in the car and said ‘Thank You Jesus, I got what I am looking for.’”

Along with stories of the Civil Rights Movement, the women also talked about their childhoods and how all of them learned to quilt from their mothers.

Quilter China Pettway talked about how in the 1960s, she was removed from the ferry that used to take people to Camden, Ala., in order to make it more difficult for the people of the area to register to vote.

“One day, we went to register to vote and the ferry was gone without warning,” Pettway said. “Instead, we had to drive 45 miles around to get to Camden.”

The ferry was closed for 44 years and service resumed in 2006.

Mary Ann Pettway, who learned to make quilts when she was between the ages of 12 and 13, talked about her childhood and said despite the hard times, God always got her through.

“All of the water to use was water we carried from the spring,” Mary Ann Pettway said. “We did not have any shoes until my brother made us some, when we wore them everyone laughed at us—even the teachers—but it was okay, those shoes were good to me.”

As Mary Ann Pettway talked about her siblings, two of whom had died, she began to cry.

“These are not sad tears,” she said. “These are joyful tears. As the song said, you gotta tell people and love them when they are alive.”

She then led the audience and her fellow quilters in the song “Do Lord Remember Me,” a spiritual.

Between the songs, the three women praised their host for the upcoming week, and the women’s visit.

Jamie Willis, a Mattoon art teacher and the program director for this presentation, said she became fascinated with the group when she first heard about them in 2006 and is learning so much from them.

“I love learning about these women—who they are and who their mothers were,” Willis said. “When they talk about them, it gives me goose bumps.”

Willis said before the presentation she did not know what the women would talk about, and until their visit, she did not know they sang.

“The first time my husband and I heard them sing was in the car after they arrived,” Willis said. “ We were almost driven to tears.”

Along with the presentation, the women also brought some of their quilts to sell.

The presentation was one of six, the rest of which take place throughout the week in Mattoon and include quilting workshops.

The full schedule of events is available on the Mattoon Arts Council’s website.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or alwywialowski@eiu.edu.