The first quilt of this design (now in the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture) was made by the artist as an expression of a personal experience during the Civil Rights Movement when she was encouraged by local efforts to register African American voters in Georgia. Jessie Telfair decided to register to vote, but when her employer learned of this action, she was fired from her job as an elementary school cafeteria worker in her community of Parrott, GA. The quilt (and two later, nearly identical quilts, of which this is one) demonstrates an act of protestation and resilience, as she used the colors of the American flag deliberately to call out of the word “freedom” repeatedly as if to question one of the foundational principles of our country.