Detail of a pre-Civil War quilt on display at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, N.C.

The last place I expected to find myself on a vacation was in a quilt exhibit. A quilt exhibit’s main purpose, as far as I knew, was to test a man’s willingness to show a woman the depth of his devotion.

“Why, yes, dear, I would be happy to go with you to a quilt exhibit!” said no man, convincingly, ever.

Turns out I was wrong. No, I didn’t come away with needlework tips, but with a better sense of how we might have more thoughtful debates on the unsavory side of American history.

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The fact that this lesson came south of the Mason-Dixon Line was all the more fascinating.

The exhibit was at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, where I was visiting my daughter. I was ambivalent about the quilt exhibit, but felt a sense of obligation to at least take a glance and perhaps some photos since my wife, who stayed home with the farm, would no doubt have wanted to see it.

I found myself absorbed. These painstakingly hand-crafted bedspreads dated to before the Civil War. Raised effects were achieved in some cases by stuffing cotton under the stitches as the sewer went. Lacework involved pulling individual threads to make patterns of tiny holes in the fabric. In some instances, women learned the arts as part of their education at exclusive schools.

These works of art........

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