A casebook devoted to tracing the derivation and elaborating the importance of quilting as a metaphr for the creative legacy inherited by black Americans from their material ancestors. This theme was first explored by Walker in her short story, Everyday Use, which was published in 1973 in her collection In Love and Troube: Stories of Black Women. The story is reprinted her along with other of her writing which bear on this theme and an interview which first appeared in 1975. Other contributors include Mary Helen Washington, Houston Baker and Elaine Showalter.