The Thread Collectors

Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of racism, racial violence, enslavement, lynching, sexual assault, graphic wartime violence, antisemitism, and the death of a child. This guide quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.

In The Thread Collectors, blue is a complex symbol that captures both hope and trauma depending on its context. In Chapter 16, William recalls the Gullah-Geechee tradition of “haint blue”: “[E]arly enslaved Africans believed the hue,” crushed from the indigo flowers which they harvested on plantations, “would trap the evil spirits that tried to do them harm” (83). The belief has been carried forward through generations of enslaved people; in a world where so little is under their control, the novel’s Black characters utilize blue as a protective measure against a violent world designed to work against them. Many of the houses on Rampart Street feature blue accents, and several characters apply blue paint or dye to the ceilings of their bedrooms.

The women of The Thread Collectors use blue thread when they hope to protect their loved ones. When Stella is sent to market, she wears a dress on which Ammanee has embroidered blue flowers.