Alice Walkers early story Everyday Use has remained a cornerstone of her work. Her use of quilting as a metaphor for the creative legacy that African Americans inherited from their maternal ancestors changed the way we define art womens culture and African American lives. By putting African American womens voices at the center of the narrative for the first time Everyday Use anticipated the focus of an entire generation of black women writers. This casebook includes an introduction by the editor a chronology of Walkers life an authoritative text of Everyday Use and of In Search of Our Mothers Gardens an interview with Walker six critical essays and a bibliography. The contributors are Charlotte PierceBaker Houston A. Baker Jr. Thadious M. Davis Margot Anne Kelley John OBrien Elaine Showalter and Mary Helen Washington.