DAPHNE, Ala. — The quilters of Gee’s Bend, Ala., stitch not only for necessity, but also to express a message that stems to when blacks and women were seldom heard — the civil rights era.

The women — Essie B. Pettway and Nettie Young — will exhibit their patchworks during a presentation at the Daphne Civic Center on Friday at 7 p.m. Stephanie Burak, art historian with Tinwood Alliance in Atlanta, also will be present throughout the evening, which will feature a Gee’s Bend quilt on display.

Friday’s event will spotlight the history of Gee’s Bend, a southwestern town five miles long, eight miles wide. Its story includes a visit from Martin Luther King Jr. at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church and the removal of a ferry to Camden when blacks united in their interest to vote, Stephanie Burak, the group’s art historian, said. The ferry traveled five miles to Camden when only two people in town had automobiles; the journey around the bay was close to 40 miles, Burak said.

“The ferry vanished; the people were literally waiting beside the water,” Burak said.

Quilting played a role similar to gospel music during the 1960s; the patchworks gave women a creative outlet and an opportunity to be uplifted, Burak said.

“The tradition was passed on from generation to generation in African American culture in the South,” she said. “They (quilts) were essential to keep themselves warm.

Besides singing, they were the only means of having self-expression.

“The culture wasn’t one where women had much of a voice.”

Burak said the women were limited to materials from old work clothes, but still put their hearts into the position of each piece of fabric.

“They were busy around the clock, but they still managed to make the quilts beautiful,” she said.

Burak, a former museum curator, said the South holds some of the country’s most soulful and exquisite artwork — and the Gee’s Bend quilts, she said, are just that: art.

“Alabama is basically the heart of this kind of artwork,” Burak said. “Most people, when they think of art and fine art, look to New York and Los Angeles and internationally.

“No one thinks to look in the heart of the South. Some of the most poignantly communicating art is from right here.”

Friday’s presentation, “Gee’s Bend Quilts: A Great American Art Tradition,” is free to the public.

The Daphne Civic Center is located on the corner of U.S. Highway 98 and Whispering Pines Road. For more information, call the Daphne Public Library at (251) 621-2818.

FOR PICTURES OF A GEE'S BEND QUILT, PICK UP THE FEB. 13 DAPHNE BULLETIN. TO SUBSCRIBE, CALL 1-800-788-6151, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.