Circa 1994
Made in Greene County, Alabama 
Robert and Helen Cargo Collection of African-American Quilts, 2000.004.0091

“I did not make fancy quilts until after I joined a senior-citizens quilting group with Mary Maxtion. Sometimes she quilts with me.” 
- Lureca Outland

Lureca (pronounced “Lou-REESE-uh”) grew up in and around Boligee, Greene County, Alabama. She lived in a log house with no electricity. Her father died when she was 1 leaving her mother with three daughters to raise. Her grandmother also helped raise the children and taught them many things. She and her sisters and their mother worked in the cotton fields for 75 cents a day. She went to school only when harvest was done.

Outland began quilting as a teenager as she helped her mother finish quilt tops already in progress. While her mother knew some patterns, most were strip quilts.

According to Maude Southwell Wahlman’s Signs and Symbols: African American Images in African American Quilts, Outland did more quilting once her five children—four boys and one girl—were grown. Stars were her favorite pattern, and she also liked the Pig Pen quilt. 

Lureca frequently quilted with Mary Maxtion and Roberta Jemison, both of whom are also represented in the IQM's Robert and Helen Cargo Collection.