The Shoe Shop & Quilt Museum of Camden, Alabama
is an African American history museum located in the Black Belt region of Alabama. We tell stories about African American life and culture in Camden, Gee’s Bend, and surrounding areas from slavery to the Civil Rights era. The museum focuses on sharing these histories through the crafts of quilting, shoe making, gastronomy, lye soap making, foraging of herbal medicines and natural dyes, garment making, needlework, and art making. We believe that telling stories through these materials and techniques is a powerful way to get to know those who came before us. The Shoe Shop and Quilt Museum of Camden, Alabama pays homage to the people who developed specialized knowledge about how to work with the resources they had and transform them into resources to build their lives and care for their communities.
Photo by: Jo Ayuso
founded by Betty Anderson
Anderson was born and raised in Camden, AL and has family dating back generations there and in Gee’s Bend. The museum honors her foremothers and -fathers who lived in Camden and Gee’s Bend and began some of the first black-owned businesses and co-ops in those places. The Shoe Shop and Quilt Museum is located inside the former Shoe Shop business started by Joe Anderson (Anderson’s father) and has many quilts dating from 1880s-2011 including those made by master quilters, Minder Coleman (Anderson’s grandmother) and Marie Coleman Anderson (Anderson’s mother) who made the “911 Quilt.”
Anderson, an artist in her own right, founded The Shoe Shop and Quilt Museum of Camden, Alabama in 2007. Visitors to the museum will have the opportunity to see an array of historical documents, equipment, tools, furniture, artwork, photographs and crafts dating back to the 1800s. Visitors have the opportunity to hear stories of life and regional culture from Anderson on guided tours. The museum is walking distance from historic downtown Camden where Anderson also occasionally provides walking tours.