Page 4 - SeptNewsletter18

Welcome To Boykin, AL

Home of

GEE’s BEND

On Saturday, June 9, forty members of ing in a picture frame. The visit was
MAC along with their friends and fami- fascinating but most importantly we

lies boarded a bus to Gees Bend in met descendants of the original Gees
Boykin, AL. Little did any of them real- Bend quilters, visited the quilting col-
ize how much this visit would impact lective center where we spent at least
their understanding of the Gees Bend 2 hours refreshing ourselves and visit-
community? Boykin, also known ing with them. This was quite an expe-

as Gee's Bend, is an African Ameri- rience as we were allowed to tour the
can majority community and census- facility at our leisure and purchase
designated place in a large bend of items as souvenirs of our visit. The
the Alabama River in Wilcox Coun- collective sang old time spirituals to us

ty, Alabama. As of the 2010 census, and we posed and took lots of pictures.
its population was 275. The We then left heading to Camden for

Boykin Post Office was established in lunch. Once arriving in Camden, we
the community in 1949 and remains visited Ms. Kitty’s restaurant where we
active, servicing the 36723 ZIP code. dined on catfish, fried chicken, baked

Gee's Bend was named for Joseph chicken, candied yams, collard greens,
Gee, an early large land owner rice, cornbread, tea and lemonade.
from Halifax County, North Caroli- Ms. Kitty was quite entertaining and we
na who settled here in 1816. Gee truly enjoyed this African American
brought 18 African American slaves woman who has for the past 17 years

with him and established a cotton plan- run her own business while rearing 4
tation within the bend. sons.

The purpose of the trip was to explore This was a wonderful outing that al-
and learn more about the area and in- lowed us, as Alabama African Ameri-
crease the knowledge base of those cans, to get a glimpse of Alabama his-
attending of a part of the Black Belt. tory during the celebration of the Bi-

The travelers were introduced to the centennial of Alabama. Knowledge is
POWER!
Roosevelt houses, a settlement of
homes built right after the Great De-

pression and funded by the New Deal
during the Roosevelt Administration.
The “quilt mirrors” were seen up close,
far away they look just like quilts hang-

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