Sue Willie Seltzer and her three siblings were raised by a single mother. Her mother needed the children to help support the family, so the children often went to Orrville to pick cotton for white families or their mother's brothers and sisters. Seltzer and her brother, being the oldest, were required to pick at least one hundred pounds of cotton per day. Being that Orrville was a twelve-mile walk away, or half a day's walk, this work would need to be completed very quickly.[3]
Seltzer had at least one son, Benjamin, who married the former Boykin Postmaster, Bettie Bendolph Seltzer.[3]Bettie Bendolph Seltzer was also a member of the Gee's Bend quilting collective and daughter of fellow quilt maker Annie Bendolph.[6]
Work
Seltzer began quilting later in life than some other members of the Gee's Bend quilting collective.[7] In a 2002 interview, she recalled starting to quilt with the collective when she was thirty or forty years old.[8] She learned by watching her peers join together and make quilts for one another. A true improvisational artist, Seltzer often borrowed other people's blocks, to piece together into one quilt. She would also take apart pillow-case sewing kits and use those materials for her quilts. She preferred large blocks and bold contrasts to small, meticulous pieces.[3]
