Skirt worn by an enslaved ancestor of Janett Sharee Galloway
date: label: Date
content: 1850-1875
name: label: Created by
content: Unidentified
notes: label: Caption
content: Janett Sharee Galloway inherited this skirt in 1977 from her grandmother, Mary Lizzie (Hunt) Galloway. The story given to Janett with the skirt was that it originally belonged to the “mother’s mother’s grandmother’s mother’s mother” who was enslaved in or near Macon, Georgia, or neighboring Jones County. Tracing back Mary Lizzie's maternal line, it is likely the skirt's second owner and wearer was her grandmother, a woman born as Mollie Johnson about 1862. Mollie Johnson Hunt’s unidentified mother is the likely original maker and owner, though alterations consistent with the silhouette of the early to mid-1870s suggest Mollie may also have worn the skirt.
label: Description
content: Printed floral skirt worn by an enslaved ancestor of Janett Sharee Galloway. The skirt is made from cotton with a small-scale print in faded brown of a single flower surrounded by a stippled frame. Two bias brown tapes are machine stitched along the bottom with a pleated ruffle between them. The silhouette is flat in the front with a tightly gathered back waist and a center back closure with a hand sewn buttonhole and one (1) round black button. A loop of cotton string is tied through the buttonhole. An inset pocket with self-fabric lining is sewn at the proper right waist. The skirt is both hand and machine sewn, with later alterations being the machine stitched areas. The wide ruffled panel along the bottom of the skirt creates two layers along the bottom because it is sewn directly on top of the body of the skirt, with the same small floral print underneath the ruffle. A triangular shaped patch of faded blue cotton is hand sewn near the center front waist to add girth. The skirt has been taken up near the waist with a hand sewn tuck, which was sewn before the blue patch was added. The hem of both layers of fabric at the bottom is machine sewn.
place: label: Place used
content: Georgia, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Clothing and dress
label: Topic
content: Families
label: Topic
content: Slavery
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Slavery and Freedom Objects
label: Classification
content: Clothing - Fashion and Historical
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2011.52
objectType: label: Type
content: skirts
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: 38 1/2 x 114 in. (97.8 x 289.6 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: On Form: 39 1/2 x 21 x 1/4 in. (100.3 x 53.3 x 0.6 cm)