Montana: Angela Sprague Kidder of
Missoula could hardly have imagined
making a hand-stitched Indian star quilt
for President Barack Obama.
And the president's adoptive parents,
Mary and Hartford “Sonny” Black Eagle of
Lodge Grass, could hardly have imagined
they'd never get close enough to Obama
to give him that star quilt after his
Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony.
But it's not easy to get next to the
president of the United States, even if,
as his adoptive parents, you were
assigned $50,000 donor inauguration
seats. So, the Black Eagles spent the
day like hundreds of thousands of others
on the National Mall with a barely a
glimpse of Obama.
“We couldn't
even see anything,” said Mary Black
Eagle, 74, who attended the swearing-in
ceremony with her 75-year-old husband.
“There was a tree in front of me and it
was so cold, we had to leave. All I
could see was that big screen on the
right-hand side. I should have got on
the (Crow) float, so I would have been
able to see him. I would have been able
to wave at him.”
The Black Eagles left the inaugural
festivities carrying the eight-pointed
star blanket quilted with a black eagle
holding a pipe in its talons.
As for Sprague Kidder, she's content the
quilt she made will still be delivered
to Obama, only this time by mail. Plans
are also being made to include the quilt
in an art exhibition titled “Quilts for
Obama: Celebrating the Inauguration of
our 44th President.” The exhibit runs
through July 26 at Historical Society of
Washington, D.C.
The road to the White House has been an
unexpected one for Sprague Kidder, a
longtime community activist and member
of the American Indian Movement. At the
same time, she's a likely candidate for
making the quilt, given that she's spent
the last half-century making and
hand-stitching the prized blankets.
Her quilting skills were learned from
women like her maternal grandmother,
Rose Sprague, and Lakota elders,
including Alyce Head and Selene Not Help
Him.
Sprague Kidder, who is from the Little
River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Gun
Lake Band of Potawatomi, makes upward of
100 star blankets a year. A quilting
stand usually remains set up in her
living room.
“See my fingers?” she said on Monday,
showing calloused fingertips. “That's
all I do. Sometimes I'll sit here and
cut diamonds then I'll sit down and just
make ‘tops.' Then, when I make 30 tops,
I'll sit down and quilt them.”
Several months ago, Sprague Kidder
started sewing a blanket top designed
with an eagle. She thought she cut the
eagle from midnight-blue fabric. Once
she had it under a light, however, she
realized the fabric was actually black,
a color Lakota elders taught her never
to use in a blanket. “I thought, ‘Oh, my
gosh,' and just put it away.”
But word soon spread to Mary and Sonny
Black Eagle, who adopted Obama as a son
during an Apsaalooke ceremony in May
when he visited the Crow Reservation.
The couple asked Sprague Kidder to
finish the quilt so they could take it
to Washington with them.
The couple gave Obama an Indian name,
“He Who Helps People Throughout the
Land.” Some people have taken to calling
him Barack Black Eagle.
Sprague Kidder completed the nearly
8-by-7-foot quilt, finishing it with a
turquoise-colored background. The Black
Eagles took it to Washington, carrying
the blanket used for significant
occasions.
“We all come from the Star Nation,” said
Sprague Kidder. “That's why we make
these star quilts, to cover ourselves
because we're from the heavens. They
cover us. They keep us warm.”
It's fitting the president of the United
States should have one, too.
“They are used for people who have
accomplished something,” said the
quilter.
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/01/29/jodirave/rave78.txt
