Our Mission

Unlike many social enterprises, Southern Journeys is worker-owned! Any of our sewers can become owners of the company. We draw our inspiration from collective weaving, piece sewing and quilting traditions originating in the rich cultures of West Africa and African American community cooperatives and quilting bees of the US south.

Our member owners and sewers are from rural counties spanning the Alabama and Georgia Black Belt and the Mississippi Delta.  Our contemporary products and designs honor the spirit of our ancestors and celebrate our creativity and unity as a people committed to collective empowerment. 

We are committed to:

Meaningful work  |  Fair Wages  | Environmental Stewardship  |  Worker Ownership & Cooperation

 

Managing Board

Sarah Bobrow-Williams

Fannie Etheridge

Willie Bell Gilmore

Gloria Shield

sMollie Hawkins

 

Our Supporters

We’d like to thank the public and private partners who supported our start-up and business development over the years: Adwoa M. Awotwi, Attorney, Eli Trinity Consulting; Aminata Brown, BaBa Blankets Collective; Patti Carpenter, Designer; Folake Dosu, Digital Strategist; Sami Grover and Chelsea Dennis, The Change Creation; Lara Jealous, Textile Designer; Freada Kapor Klein, Kapor Capital; Colleen Pendleton, Marketing Specialist; Heather Johnson, the Charleston Garment Manufactury; Heather Powers; Textile Designer; Red Rover Clothing Company; Sam X, artist, The Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative (SRBWI) board and staff members – Sarah Bobrow-Williams, Gloria Shields and Deborah Thomas and the Ford, Kellogg, and Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundations (through their support to SRBWI).

RETAIL PARTNERS: ABC Home, New York, NY; Global Exchange, Berkeley, CA; Humanitree House, Augusta, GA, The York Bailey Cultural Museum, Penn Center, St. Helena Island, SC

 

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Jacob’s Ladder Remix

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African Garden Market Bag

Organic Hemp with Wax Print

Embrace what makes you unique, even if it makes others uncomfortable. I didn’t have to become perfect because I’ve learned throughout my journey that perfection is the enemy of greatness.”
— Janelle Monae