Kyra Hicks: 'Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria'

My sister, Kyra Hicks, is a quilt scholar and expert. She wrote the definitive book on African American quilting a few years ago. Her second book is about Martha Ann Erskine Ricks, "a little girl from East Tennessee who shook the hand of Queen Victoria."

The story of that handshake and the quilt is extraordinary. The title of Hicks' new children's book, "Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria," with illustrations by artist Lee Edward Fodi, describes the life of Martha Ann in Liberia.

Kyra will be making a series of speeches as part of Black History month celebrations in Tennessee this month. She will be in East Tennessee from Feb 24-27 for a series of presentations sponsored by the East Tennessee Historical Society, Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Smokey Mountains Pearls Interest Group of AKA Sorority Inc. and the Knox County Mayor's Office. There is a great article on the series of events in the Knoxville newspaper.