[5] The Resettlement Administration reports of the 1930s emphasized the isolation of the community, describing the unreliable ferry that approached from the east and the muddy road that entered from the west.

In 1937, the average rural rehabilitation loan to Gee's Bend families was $353.41, and the agency reports speak of possible cooperative undertakings; a building campaign for houses, barns, a schoolhouse, and a sawmill.

By 1939 enough visible change had occurred for Roy Stryker to send Marion Post Wolcott to the community to photograph the signs of progress—to get the "after" pictures.

In 1941, New York City speech professor and folklore collector Robert Sonkin recorded music, recitations, discussion, and a Fourth of July program at Gee's Bend.

[9] Gee's Bend became an important part of the mid-1960s Freedom Quilting Bee, an offshoot of the Civil Rights Movement designed to boost family income and foster community development by selling handcrafts to outsiders.

The lack of ferry service forced the residents of the community to drive more than an hour in order to conduct business in Camden.

By 2020, the ferry carries up to 15 cars and 132 passengers, and its diesel propulsion system has been replaced by electric motors and 270 kWh batteries being recharged at the docks.

[13] Calvin Trillin devoted a 1969 The New Yorker piece to the opening of the community's new sewing center, paid for with quilting bee revenues.

In August 2006, the United States Postal Service released a sheet of ten commemorative stamps bearing images of Gee's Bend quilts sewn between c.1940 and 2001.

The suit filed by Annie Mae Young alleged that dealers falsely claim to own the intellectual property rights to quilts made in Gee's Bend before 1984, including her work.

This week a careful review of our files indicates that Kathy Ireland Worldwide has paid more to these representatives than our company has earned from the quilts project.

[17] U.S. District Judge Callie Granade of Mobile dismissed the suits and said the parties would pay their own legal costs.