Jessie T. Pettway (born 1929) is an American artist associated with the

Gee's Bend Boykin, also known as Gee's Bend, is an African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The te ...

group of quilters. In 2006 her quilt ''Bars and string-pieced columns'' appeared on a

US Postal service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

stamp as part of a series commemorating Gee's Bend quilters. Her work is included in the collection of the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

and the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

Life

A woman of many names, Jessie T. Pettway was given the name J.T. at birth, most called her by her nickname, "Bootnie," and she always referred to herself as "Jessie," after her favorite school teacher. She was born in Primrose, Alabama to a single mother, Channie Pettway. Although she knew her father, Joe Benning, and passed his house frequently, he did not play an active role in her or her siblings' lives. Her mother died at a young age, and her and her siblings lived with her mother's sister, Seebell Kennedy ("Little Sis"), and her husband, Alp Kennedy, thereafter. Their days were long and filled with chores before and after school. Their farm grew

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...

s, and

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...

es, as well as the variety of vegetables they were on their own plot for

subsistence A subsistence economy is an economy directed to basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing, shelter) rather than to the market. Henceforth, "subsistence" is understood as supporting oneself at a minimum level. Often, the subsistence econo ...

use. They also raised livestock, such as goats and hogs. Pettway completed schooling up to the eleventh grade. She married Monroe Pettway and together they raised seven girls and two boys.

Work

After the farm chores were completed, their aunt Seebell would sit the girls down and teach them to piece and sew quilts. Jessie's first quilt was an "Eight Pointed Star" pattern. She began completing patterns by herself at age twelve. Always using repurposed cloth and materials given to her from community members or her family in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

, Jessie recalled, "My aunt had a old book of patterns that she sometime used, but I didn't like no book patterns. I couldn't buy pretty materials, so I couldn't make pretty patterns." She often preferred the "Bricklayer" pattern because "you could make it into something pretty with any old kind of cloth."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettway, Jessie T. 1929 births 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American artists Gee's Bend quilters Living people 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American women