One of eight children born to Fern Eaton Crum and Rufus Crum, Jr., originally from Royal Oak Township (a suburb of Detroit, Michigan), Marla Jackson spent many weekends and summers with her paternal grandparents, Rufus and Zelma Crum, and her once enslaved great-grandmother, Lucille Crum. Marla’s artistic direction was influenced by her family’s stories, and her quilts depict scenes and themes that capture the pride, spirit, pain, and joy of the African American experience. Her primary goal with her work is to echo the untold stories of heroes that history has overlooked, forgotten, or hidden. She is the founder of the National African American Quilt Convention and she recently released her newest book, Sankofa Lessons Learned.
