Since 1996, Rose Atkinson has taught star quilt-making for the Cultural Arts Department at Fort Peck Community College, where her students have ranged in age from 18 to 80. She learned to quilt from her grandmother, Mary Evelyn Redwood Buckles, and began her own journey in 1981 with a baby quilt for her first child. In addition to teaching, Rose continues to sew at least five days a week—and if she has company to visit and sew with, she’ll often keep going until midnight.
Quilting was introduced to the Assiniboine, Lakota, and Dakota tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation by Presbyterian missionaries in the 1800s. As government-imposed restrictions and widespread commercial hunting brought an end to buffalo hunting for those on the reservation, star quilts emerged as symbolic replacements for buffalo robes, which were given to honor significant events. Today, star quilts continue that tradition and are gifted at naming ceremonies, giveaways, memorials, graduations, births, and other meaningful occasions.