Thirty-eight years ago, Toni Morrison asserted, in her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved” through the protagonist Sethe, “Nothing ever dies.”
Although Aug. 5, 2025, marked the sixth anniversary of Morrison’s death, her legacy is alive, and in Mississippi, it is stitched into the culture of textile artistry, thanks to Dr. J. Janice Coleman, professor of English at Alcorn State University. She is a Morrison scholar who was recently featured in the Mississippi Museum of Art’s 2024-2025 exhibit, “Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South.”
J. Janice and I met seven years ago as colleagues and faculty members at Alcorn in the Department of English, Languages, and Mass Communication. As office neighbors in Lanier Hall, we connected through stories about her childhood, quilting and our mutual fondness for Morrison.
I learned that she grew up in the historically Black town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, surrounded by a network of familial masterful quilters—her mother, grandmothers, aunts and other women in their rural community. Observing them at their craft, she soon found her passion in connecting discarded pieces of fabric.
A common characteristic of J. Janice’s work is an interwoven parallel between her upbringing in Mound Bayou and certain scenes from any given Morrison book. Not only did Morrison write about the rural Black woman’s experience in communities much like J. Janice’s, but quilting was a popular theme in her writing.
The HBCU professor’s appreciation for “Beloved” inspired her to design “The Beloved Quilt,” now one of her signature creations, tailored with personalized text and images underscoring central themes in the novel.
Her initial goal was to pay homage to the indelible character, Baby Suggs, a quilter. Moved by the psychological trauma Baby Suggs suffered as a former slave, J. Janice set out to recreate one of the matriarch’s quilts, made of black, brown, navy and gray wool, Morrison describes. Among the dull colors are two bright orange squares representing Baby Suggs’ life, mostly devoid of color.
During our office hours in Lanier Hall, J. Janice and I had vibrant conversations about her creative freedoms.
The exhibit expanded beyond an imitation of Baby Suggs’ quilt when, as J. Janice explained, “other characters and certain images from the novel wanted to be involved,” most notably Sethe, whose life as a slave was a key focal point in the book.
A seminal connection between “Beloved” and “The Beloved Quilt” is each artist’s approach to addressing the theme of death.
In the novel, Morrison captured a catastrophic cycle of lifelessness that robbed her characters of agency. Sethe, for instance, felt that traumas of her past would always exist through unpleasant memories. By her reasoning, oppressive systems and residual pain also continued in the experiences of generations under her, even those who were not physically present.
In the quilt, J. Janice responded as a facilitator of agency for Sethe and other characters—formally acknowledging their deaths while taking steps forward and memorializing their humanity.
“On the front of my quilt, I added a centerpiece representing Beloved’s headstone,” J. Janice said.
A ghastly presence in the novel, Beloved is Sethe’s deceased daughter.
“In the book, ‘Dearly Beloved’ were the only words on Beloved’s headstone because Sethe didn’t have the resources to purchase all of the letters she really wanted.”
Through her imaginative thinking, J. Janice delivered a tremendous gift to Sethe.
“I had the resources to help her get exactly what she wanted, so I put the ‘Rest in Peace’ on her baby girl’s headstone, at no charge.”
J. Janice added, “Seamstresses can do things like that when they’re creative.”
More tributes continue on the back of her quilt. Meticulous and deliberate, she stitched 132 headstones framed by two trees positioned at the left and right margins, brilliant displays telling important stories about characters, representing people—discarded like old pieces of cloth.
J. Janice’s quilt points to Morrison’s examination of the psychological trauma and systemic destruction seen in Black communities when family members are displaced. When “The Beloved Quilt” is on display, it encourages dialogue about the importance of storytelling, history, creative freedom, and generational healing.
The renowned textile artist’s creation is an instinctive representation of Morrison’s enduring legacy.
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