Ella Bendolph - Gee’s Bend Postcards — Airing of the Quilts Festival 2025

These Gee’s Bend postcards were created to honor the legacy of the women who built a tradition of creativity, faith, and resilience through quilting. Designed as souvenirs for the 4th Annual Airing of the Quilts Festival 2025, each card tells part of my own family story — the story of the Miller, Pettway and Bendolph women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama.

This year’s festival honored my three-times great-grandmother, Dinah Miller, Gee’s Bend’s first recorded quilter and a survivor of the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to reach the United States. Featured on the postcard is “Strips” (1955), a quilt by her granddaughter, Ella Bendolph & a short bio written by me! 

Each postcard carries a piece of our family’s legacy — a living connection to the women who stitched survival and spirit into every quilt they made.

Postcards make beautiful, meaningful gifts — perfect for sharing the story, strength, and artistry of Gee’s Bend with others.