Gee’s Bend is known as living history due to the region’s generations of Black female quilters. The quilts, initially created for comfort and warmth, have become a symbol of Black survival and civil rights activism . But now the Alabama-based quilters are stepping out of the history books and into the mainstream fashion and home-good industries with the help of creative and economic nonprofit Nest . Nest describes as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) “supporting the responsible growth and creative engagement of the artisan & maker economy to build a world of greater gender equity and economic inclusion.” The nonprofit’s programs aim to give the country’s artisans sustainable livelihoods by “bringing radical transparency and opportunity to the informal handworker economy.” Photo: Stacy K. Allen Rebecca van Bergen, Nest’s founder and executive director, told Blavity that Nest and the Gee’s Bend quilters began their relationship around 2016. She said that the team traveled to Gee’s Bend and stayed...