Background
She was born to a sharecropping family in Arkansas. Mississippi Tompkins, who had helped her mother make quilts as a child, began to quilt seriously about 1980, while making a living as a practical nurse
She was born to a sharecropping family in Arkansas. Mississippi Tompkins, who had helped her mother make quilts as a child, began to quilt seriously about 1980, while making a living as a practical nurse