Mary Maxtion is one of many rural Alabama quiltmakers whose quilts were collected by Robert and Helen Cargo in the 1980s and 1990s. Like many other cultural groups’ handicrafts, the quilts of rural African American women became collectors’ items during the quilt revival. Although some observers have considered African American quilts from the rural south as representative of the entire African American quiltmaking tradition, there is great diversity among African American made quilts and quiltmakers.