Yo-yo coverlet made for Jennie Dee Booth Moton by Tuskegee Institute students
date: label: Date
content: 1915-1935
name: label: Directed by
content: Unidentified Woman or Women
label: Owned by
content: Jennie B. Moton, American, 1879 - 1942
label: Subject of
content: Tuskegee Institute, American, founded 1881
notes: label: Caption
content: Jennie Dee Booth Moton was the wife of Robert R. Moton, who served as the principal of Tuskegee Institute from 1915 to 1935. As the principal's wife, Moton served several roles at the school. From 1924 to 1935 she was the director of the Department of Women's Industries and the president of the Tuskegee Woman's Club. Moton was involved in the African American women's club movement, serving two terms as president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) and, from 1929 to 1936, as president of the Alabama Association of Women's Clubs (AAWC). She was a member of Franklin D. Roosevelt's so-called Black Cabinet, which persuaded him to issue Executive Order 8802 prohibiting discrimination in the defense industry in1941. This yo-yo coverlet was made for Moton by unidentified female students at Tuskegee Institute.
label: Description
content: Yo-yo coverlet made from plain muslin by female students of Tuskegee Institute for Jennie Dee Booth Moton. The yo-yos are made by gathering the edges into the middle of one side and pulling tight into pleats. Each yoyo has an empty circle in the middle of the pleated side and is plain on the back side. They are hand sewn together to form the coverlet, with open spaces between their round edges. At the vertical center the yo-yos are sewn overlapping, with two (2) columns stacked on top of each other. Ten (10) triangles made from six (6) yo-yos each are sewn along the bottom edge of the coverlet. There were likely originally twelve (12) triangles, with the bottom right corner now empty and the bottom left corner only having two (2) extra yo-yos sewn. There are thirteen (13) extra yo-yos sewn along the upper portion of the left side of the coverlet, forming a partial column.
label: Description
content: The fragment (b) consists of ten (10) of the muslin yo-yos sewn in the shape of a triangle.
place: label: Place made
content: Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Associations and institutions
label: Topic
content: Communities
label: Topic
content: Craftsmanship
label: Topic
content: Domestic life
label: Topic
content: Education
label: Topic
content: HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)
label: Topic
content: Ornamentation
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Textiles and Quilts
label: Classification
content: Furnishings, Housewares, and Décor
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Charlotte Moton Hubbard
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2009.15ab
objectType: label: Type
content: bed coverings
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: cotton
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (a): 111 × 93 in. (281.9 × 236.2 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (b): 7 × 7 1/8 in. (17.8 × 18.1 cm)