LECTURE: “American Quilts as Agitprop: A Canvas for Social and Political Activism” with Kean University Assistant Professor of Interior Deisgn Jeffery McCullough

Thursday, October 15, 2026. 5:30pm-7:30pm. CVA Gallery at Brookdale & Zoom.

CIVILITY WEEK x CVA GALLERY 

Kean University Assistant Professor of Interior Design, Jeffery McCullough, will speak on the radical history of quilting in the United States.

“American Quilts As Agitprop: A Canvas For Social And Political Activism”

We tend to think of quilts as comforting, domestic, safe, but across three centuries of American history, the quilt has functioned as something far more powerful: a medium for protest and political speech, often wielded by those with no other outlet for expression. Because quilting was dismissed as “women’s work,” it existed beneath the notice of those in power and that invisibility became a kind of freedom. This lecture traces how enslaved women, suffragists, AIDS activists, and contemporary artists used fabric and pattern to carry messages that could not be spoken aloud, staging arguments that would otherwise have been silenced entirely. By the end, you’ll never look at a quilt the same way again.

Jeffery McCullough is Assistant Professor of Interior Design in Kean University’s CIDA-Accredited BFA Interior Design program. A graduate of the History of Design M.A. program at Parsons School of Design / The New School, McCullough’s teaching and research are centered around design history. As a frequent presenter on panels and at conferences, primary research topics of “Design Democracy” and “Expanding the Canon of American Interior Design History” are engaged with and expanded upon. Active learning modules for design history education are foundational for McCullough’s pedagogical approach, as his residential Interior Design career of twenty-five years.

No preregistration or fee, open to everyone. Zoom links will be on the CVA Gallery page of Brookdale’s website prior to the event.