Anna Rolapp designed the Remembrance & Reconciliation Quilts. On the "eastern"
(right) border are the green hills of Arkansas; on the "western" (left)
border, the red hills of southern Utah. The vines on the borders have a leaf
for each of the 120 victims of the massacre.
The leaves are organized in family groupings.
The seventeen surviving children are represented by appliqued flowers.
At the top and bottom of the quilt the green and red hills of Arkansas and
Utah are intermixed, representing reconciliation.
Occupying the center are 48 squares contributed by a nearly equal number of
descendants of both victims and perpetrators. The intent was for the families
of victims to memorialize their slain ancestors while families of perpetrators
could express their profound sorrow. Thus, in the upper left from Paul and
Frances Fancher of Atlanta, Georgia, "May we never forget all the victims of
the Mountain Meadows Massacre," while near it the Robert Briggs family of
Fullerton, California, descendants of southern Utah militiaman Samuel Knight
express, "We honor the memory of those who died and express profoundest
condolences to all affected."
There are two quilts. The photograph below is of the
Arkansas Quilt, which is currently displayed in the
Carroll County Historical and Genealogical Society, in
Berryville, Arkansas. The second Utah Quilt, will be
placed in an appropriate place in southern Utah.
One purpose of holding the
MMA's 2013 Annual
Meeting in St. George, Utah was to scout with its
designers, Anna Rolapp and Barbara Jones Brown, for a
suitable location to display the Utah Remembrance &
Reconciliation Quilt.
