BOYKIN, Ala. (Sept. 15, 2026) — Souls Grown Deep today launched a free digital guide to Gee’s Bend on Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture app created by Bloomberg Philanthropies, joining more than 1,500 cultural institutions worldwide on the platform.
The guide immerses visitors into the heart of the historic, rural Alabama community whose bold, improvisational quilts, pieced for generations from worn work clothes, feed sacks and salvaged cloth, are now recognized as landmarks of American art and held in the permanent collections in dozens of museums across three continents.
“For generations, the world has come to know Gee’s Bend through our quilts, but too often the benefits of that attention never made it back across the river,” said Gloria Carey, granddaughter of renowned Gee’s Bend quilter Rachel Carey George and an advisory board member of Visit Gee’s Bend, a Souls Grown Deep-supported initiative to develop community-led cultural tourism. “This guide helps change that. It invites people to come see us, to meet the makers, to buy directly from the artists and to experience this community the way we know it, on our own terms and in our own voices.”
Gee’s Bend is home to the descendants of people once enslaved on the plantations there. The community is filled by families who stayed for generations, came to own the land they had worked, built collective systems and risked their lives during the Civil Rights movement to secure the right to vote. That history of self-determination runs through the quilts.
The digital guide is designed to share the whole story, told in the voices of the artists, community members and leading curators through exclusive audio and video, archival photography and practical visitor information. It’s all free on a mobile device.
The guide also supports community-led cultural tourism. Practical features in the digital guide cover directions, including the scenic Gee’s Bend Ferry crossing from Camden, visiting hours and accessibility information, as well as information about the annual Airing of the Quilts Festival, set for Oct. 3, and the Gee’s Bend Spring Yard Show in April 2027.
“The collaboration between Souls Grown Deep and Bloomberg Connects is a welcome addition to the Black Belt’s tourism initiatives,” said Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association Director Pam Swanner, whose organization supports the Airing of the Quilts Festival. “I applaud their foresight in bringing this educational tool to the Gee’s Bend destination. Not only will it help visitors plan their trip, but more importantly, it will connect them more deeply to the people, place and culture that make Gee’s Bend so distinctive, creating a truly immersive and memorable experience.”
The guide features new and archival recordings of renowned Gee’s Bend artists, including Mary Lee Bendolph, Arlonzia Pettway, Loretta Pettway, Annie Mae Young, Lucy Mingo, Essie Bendolph Pettway, Loretta Pettway Bennett and Mary Virginia Pettway.
The guide also features a new way to experience “Between History and Memory: Dinah Miller’s Legacy in Gee’s Bend,” an exhibition designed to honor the community’s earliest known named quilter, who was forcibly brought from West Africa as a girl in 1860, likely aboard the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to enter U.S. waters. In the app, Dinah’s quilt-making descendants speak to her lasting influence on their work and an intimate recording with her great-granddaughter, Arlonzia Pettway.
The voices of the artists and their families help guide visitors along the Gee’s Bend Heritage Trail, a self-guided driving tour highlighting the quiltmakers, and there’s also an exploration of “A History of Gee’s Bend From 1816 to the Present,” the always-open timeline display at the Gee’s Bend Welcome Center. Audio content includes a rare 1941 recording of Isom Mosely and one of roughly two dozen known audio recordings of formerly enslaved Americans. Quiltmakers Mary Lee Bendolph and Lucy Mingo also recount their dangerous fight to register to vote in Wilcox County.
“Bloomberg Connects offers a powerful way to fulfill Souls Grown Deep’s mission: not simply to celebrate the artistry of Gee’s Bend, but to ensure the community itself benefits from the world’s attention,” said Maxwell L. Anderson, president of Souls Grown Deep. “This guide gives the quiltmakers and their families a new platform to tell their own history, in their own words, and it connects that history directly to the material support — cultural tourism, direct sales, economic investment — that our organization exists to advance.”
About the Guide
Souls Grown Deep developed the guide in collaboration with the community of Gee’s Bend. The Gee’s Bend Welcome Center and River Gallery, at 12021 County Road 29 in Alberta, is open Monday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Gee’s Bend Heritage Trail and “A History of Gee’s Bend From 1816 to the Present,” also produced by Souls Grown Deep, are always open. All experiences in the guide are free and open to all. The community appears on maps as Boykin and Alberta, but residents call it Gee’s Bend.
Press Materials
High-resolution images, logos and a QR code for downloading the Bloomberg Connects app are available here.
About Bloomberg Connects
Bloomberg Connects is a free digital guide to cultural organizations around the world that makes it easy to access and engage with arts and culture from mobile devices, anytime, anywhere. Participating organizations include botanical gardens, historic houses, outdoor sculpture parks and world-class museums. Bloomberg Connects features expert commentary, engaging audio content, accessibility features and interactive maps, and it is available in more than 40 languages through Google Translate. The platform is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ longstanding commitment to supporting digital innovation in the arts. The app is available for free download from Google Play or the App Store.
Follow Bloomberg Connects on Instagram, Facebook and Threads for updates on new guide launches, exhibit highlights and more.
About Souls Grown Deep
Souls Grown Deep advocates the artistic recognition and empowerment of Black artists from the American South, promoting visibility, scholarship and education about their contributions to art history and fostering economic development and racial and social justice in the communities that gave rise to these artists. Souls Grown Deep has partnered with the Gee’s Bend community to launch the Airing of the Quilts Festival, provided more than $1 million to foster economic development in the community and established an artist resale royalty to benefit artists. For more information, visit soulsgrowndeep.org.
About Bloomberg Philanthropies
Bloomberg Philanthropies invests in 700 cities and 150 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organization focuses on creating lasting change in five key areas: the arts, education, environment, government innovation and public health. Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s giving, including his foundation, corporate and personal philanthropy as well as Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consultancy that advises cities around the world. In 2023, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $3 billion. For more information, visit bloomberg.org or follow the organization on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and X.
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The Black Belt includes the following 23 counties: Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Monroe, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Russell, Sumter, Tuscaloosa and Wilcox.
The Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association is committed to promoting and enhancing outdoor recreation and tourism opportunities in the Black Belt in a manner that provides economic and ecological benefits to the region and its citizens. For information, go to AlabamaBlackBeltAdventures.org.
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