–1996: Laverne Henry Brackens and mother, Gladys Durham Henry family quilts were exhibited at the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia in an exhibition entitled “Four Generations of African American Quilt Makers.” Information from this exhibit evolved into a catalog “Four Generations of African American Quilt Makers: Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

–1999: Brackens quilts showcased in Texas Folk Life Resources Exhibit “Quilts of Color: Three Generations of Quilters in an Afro-Texan Family” at UTSA Institute of Texas Cultures University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas

–2001-2002: “Story Telling: One Stitch at a Time” exhibit of Laverne Brackens quilts at the Texas Memorial Museum of Science and History in Austin, Texas. This museum has two of her quilts.

–2006: On the basis of the exhibition theme established at the High Museum in Atlanta, Ga. 10 years earlier, another exhibit was held at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, California with an exhibit entitled “Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Four Generations of African American Quilt Makers”

–October 28, 2006: Laverne Brackens featured in a documentary on television program, “Texas Country Reporter (Program Episode #1000) “Family Quilts” with Bob Phillips, Reporter.

–2011: Laverne Brackens, Afro-American Quilter receives the National Foundation for the Arts (NEA) Heritage Fellow Award for her lifetime contributions for this art form.

–February 15, 2015: Laverne Brackens quilt in an exhibit for Black History Month at the Lenora Rolla Museum in Fort Worth, Texas with subsequent articles in the Fort Worth Star Telegram and the North Dallas Gazette.

–October 2020 Issue of the Texas Highways Magazine is an article entitled “How One Fairfield Woman is Keeping Afro-American Quilting Tradition Alive”

–2022: The Eli Leon Collection of Afro-American Quilts (about 3000 quilts) which included quilts of Laverne Brackens and her daughter, Sherry Byrd are given to the University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

–October 13, 2022, The Trinity Star Arts Council in Fairfield hosts a tribute to Laverne Brackens entitled “Art of the Quilt” and Mayor Kenny Hughes presents a proclamation: October 13, 2022, as Laverne Brackens Day.

On South U. S. Hwy 75 (South Fairway) in Fairfield there is a large banner on Mrs. Laverne Brackens’s front yard fence, “Quilts of Color.” Be sure to inquire about the availability for purchase of a Laverne Brackens historic quilt.

Submitted by Patricia Pratt, Freestone County Historical Museum