Columbia Gorge Museum exhibit documents more than 150 years of Black family history through quilts

Think Out Loud

An exhibit at the Columbia Gorge Museum in Stevenson, Washington, features a collection of quilts made by an enslaved woman and her family, carefully preserved for more than 150 years. The exhibit, titled “Ms. Molly’s Voice: Freedom and Family Spoken in Fabric,” runs through July 31. It’s one of the first times the quilts have been publicly displayed, and one of the first new exhibits the museum has put on in many years.

Jim Tharpe is the caretaker of the quilts, and Louise Palermo is the museum’s executive director. They join us to talk about the significance of this collection and the family history it represents.