Threads of Memory: Marion Coleman’s Quilts Preserve the Legacy of Russell City
Within OMCA’s Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain exhibition, the powerful textile works of artist Marion Coleman (born 1946, Wichita Falls, TX; died 2019, Oakland, CA) offer a vibrant and deeply personal tribute to Russell City, a once-thriving Black and Latinx community in the East Bay. Through quilted layers of fabric, photographs, and newspaper reproductions, Coleman weaves stories of resilience, erasure, and the enduring bonds that refuse to be broken.
Russell City was more than a neighborhood—it was a home. Families built lives there, children attended local schools, congregations gathered in churches, and on weekends, music filled the streets. Blues legends like Ray Charles and Etta James performed in the clubs that became cultural landmarks in the community. But in the 1960s, Russell City residents were forcibly displaced as the land was cleared for industrial development. Homes and histories were bulldozed in the name of progress.
Marion Coleman’s quilts preserve what was nearly lost. Works like Close Ties and Country Club Nights draw from oral histories and archival materials, stitching together moments and memories that defy erasure. In her 2015 piece Reunion: We Shall Always Remember, Coleman honors the annual gatherings—celebrations of identity, legacy, and kinship—that kept the spirit of Russell City alive long after its physical disappearance.
Her work doesn’t just remember; it demands recognition. Coleman’s textiles are rooted in the ongoing fight for justice, echoing the mission of the Russell City Reparative Justice Project, which seeks restitution for the families who once called the community home.
Not only on view in OMCA’s special exhibition, Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain, one of Coleman’s quilts is also included in BAMPFA’s Routed West exhibition through November 20, 2025. Coleman’s quilts are more than artworks—they are tactile archives of Black resilience, testimony, and love. They stand as a poignant reminder that even when land is taken, memory and culture endure.