Ku Klux Klan Quilt (Shoo-Fly Variation)
Made by various individuals
1926
Chicora, Michigan
Cotton
62” x 81”
MSUM 2000:71; Gift of Karl and Barbara Rowe
Photo by IMC, all rights reserved Michigan State University Museum

According to donor Karl Rowe, a retired history teacher, this tied quilt was won by his grandfather at a raffle held at a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) meeting. Rowe inherited the well-used quilt at a family reunion and, realizing its historical importance, began to collect additional information on it. Grace Way remembers at aged 16 years old being embarrassed at being enlisted, because of her fine handwriting and sewing skills, to stitch her family’s names on a block. Way recalled that each person paid 10 cents to have their name stitched on a block.

The MSU Museum houses additional material cultural resources related to KKK activities, additional archival resources are housed in the special collections of the Michigan State University Library http://www.lib.msu.edu/coll/main/spec_col/radicalism/klan.htm.