This forward has been written as if the quilt is completed. It is for the booklet that will be presented to the family along with the quilt.

James Byrd, Jr. Memorial Quilt

This quilt started on February 24, 1999 with a post to the RCTQ (rec.crafts.textiles.quilting) online newsgroup. The original post asked if there are people interested in making a friendship/reconciliation quilt for the Byrd family. The Byrd family had suffered a horrible tragedy the previous year, when their son/father/brother was dragged to death by racists in Jasper, Texas. Within a couple of hours of the post, 15 people had responded; by the end of the day over 50 quilters from all over the U.S. and some European countries were involved.

The quilters settled on 6” squares, which were sent to Marianna Greenberg in California for photographing and scanning. The scans were forwarded to Susan Sisk in South Carolina who developed the website for this project. Many quilters included personal background information, along with messages to the Byrd family. Just like the quilt itself, this book accompanying it is a collection of various individual expressions.

Another important contribution was made by Keepsake Quilting, which donated the batting for this quilt.

From California, the individual quilt blocks traveled to New York for the layout and piecing group headed by Sue DiNapoli. From New York, the quilt top went to Texas to meet Peggy McDaniel who did the actual quilting. And there was one stop left: the quilt went to Florida for the final work, the binding, to be done by Marilyn Sobel.

It is difficult to put one’s heart into a 6” square of fabric. But each and every quilter has done so, hoping the finished quilt will bring some comfort to the family of James Byrd, Jr.