Quilt on display at African American Museum shows legacy of Gaston County's Black pioneers
A quilt on display at the African American Museum shines a light on Black entrepreneurship throughout Gaston County's history, says museum founder Dot Guthrie.
“This is for community,” said Guthrie, who founded the museum located at Gastonia's Loray Mill in 2019.
"It's for our older generations to reminisce and for current generations to share with young people of today, and it's for young people in the future to never forget their past."
The 5-by-6 quilt made with African prints and designs features many Black business pioneers from Gaston County dating back to the early 1920s and 1940s.
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The quilt also features news articles highlighting the progress and advancement of Black entrepreneurs in the 40s and advertisements for their businesses.
Guthrie worked with the African American Quilt Guild of Gaston County to create the quilt after talking with the Gastonia Business Association about sharing more information about Black-owned businesses with the community.
“It’s important for our children to know that the county had a lucrative business community years ago," said Guthrie.
Quilt Features
The quilt displays more than 60 squares of Gaston County leaders, business owners and more. Some squares include familiar faces like current Mayor Walker Reid and Thebaud “T” Jeffers, the first elected Black mayor of Gastonia.
Other squares include Black men and women who made pioneering accomplishments such as Charlie Mae Moore Forney, Dr. Herbert J. Erwin Sr., and Donald E. Ramseur.
Forney was the first African American female barber in Gastonia (50s and 60s). Erwin was the first African American doctor in Gastonia, the founder of the Negro Colored Hospital and the man whom the Erwin Center is named after.
Ramseur was Gastonia’s first African American lawyer in the 50s. He was also the first African American elected to the Gastonia City Board of Education in 1965, according to the Gazette.
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Some prominent business owners included Costner Funeral Home owner Charles W. Costner Sr., First African American Gastonia City Councilman Nathaniel Barber and more.
Barber was one of the founders of the Excelsior Credit Union (1942), which was at one time, one of the largest Black-owned credit unions in the country, according to 1992 reports by the Gaston Gazette.
Museum board member Charles Whiteside, 74, says he looked up to many of the faces he saw on the quilt.
“I remember as a child, I would go deposit 10 cents and a quarter at Excelsior (Credit Union),” said Whitesides, who grew up in Gastonia.
Whitesides also remembers the many businesses owned by Leslie “Les” Lightner such as his taxi company (Lightner Cab) and sandwich shop (The Dairy Bar).
“I want people to know how rich our history is in Gaston County,” said Whitesides. “We worked for one another and worked together to better the community.”
The quilt includes a paper guide displaying the quilt squares along with a description and research references.
Guides are made available and free by contacting the African American Museum at Loray Mill, located at 300 S. Firestone St.
The quilt will also be used for an online curriculum made by the museum that includes social studies and business economics lessons. The Gaston Community Foundation will sponsor the curriculum.
Financial support for the quilt and related educational materials came from The Glenn Foundation, Gaston Arts Council, The Gaston Community Foundation, Loray Mill Lofts and the Gaston Business Association, Guthrie said.
Organizations and groups may reserve the quilt for displays at events by making reservations online.
Reach Janiya Winchester at 980-319-6819 or jwinchester@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gastonia African American Museum quilt shows legacy of Black pioneers
