UNDERGROUND RAILROAD QUILT CODES

SMITHSONIAN FOLK LIFE MAGAZINE : UNDERGROUND RAILROAD QUILT CODES 

Did slaves and Underground Railroad participants set out quilts that were maps to freedom, signals that it was a good time to leave, or that a particular house was a safe house on the way to Ohio Territory?

Patterns:

Bow Tie - Dress in disguise to appear of higher status.

Bear Paw - Follow an animal trail through the mountains to find water and food.

Log Cabin - Seek shelter now, the people here are safe to speak with.

Drunkards Path - Zig Zag as you go along incase you are being stalked by houndes.

Double Wedding Ring - It's now safe to remove chains and shackles. 

 *** This article suggests that the book about the codes, a popular book that I read years ago, is controversial... 

Well, I believe it.  I loved this book!

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL QUILT COLLECTION

SMITHONIAN INSTITUTE SPOTLIGHT NATIONAL QUILT COLLECTION

NEBRASKA STORIES : THE QUILTS OF KEN BURNS and the INTERNATIONAL QUILT MUSEUM at UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA at LINCOLN

NEBRASKA STORIES - THE QUILT COLLECTION OF KEN BURNS   a secret collection of the historian's personal quilts was put on display at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum. 

INTERNATIONAL QUILT MUSEUM at UNIVERSITY of NEBRASKA at LINCOLN

QUILTING is "Women's Art" - FUNCTIONAL ART

Well beyond my personal abilities in sewing, I find myself so excited by the designs and the history!

HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW : ANCESTRY WORSHIP BOOK REVIEW

 Raymond G. Dobard and Jacqueline L. Tobin -authors

I loved this book because it's about art as communication, in this case the use of quilts to signal to slaves that wanted to run for their freedom that the time was ripe. Perhaps a house slave who knew when the plantation owners would be leaving on a trip would lay a quilt out - as the cover picture shows - as a sign.  More, the DESIGN of the quilt could be memorized and actually be a map or series of directions for the escaping slaves to follow.  Very clever!

I feel this book is a must read for anyone interested in American history or African-American history.

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MORNINGS ON MAIN by JODI THOMAS : ANCESTRY WORSHIP BOOK REVIEW (QUILTS as FAMILY HISTORY)

MORNINGS ON MAIN by JODI THOMAS (Fiction)

EXCERPT from Jodi Thomas' fiction book 'Mornings on Main' which takes place in a small farming adjacent town in Texas.

Page 323 of paperback

'Jillian couldn't stop studying the history of the town written in stitches.  Embroidered in flower bouquets and black shadows draped over headstones ... Pink roses of births and lacy ivy for deaths...'

REVIEW:

I don't normally read books of the romance genre but this book came into my life on a rainy day and I decided to give it a try.  Characters that at first seemed implausible - especially as a cast - grew on me and slowly so that I found the ending satisfying. Character Gram is an elderly woman with Alzheimer's who also owns a quilting shop. Character Jillian is a woman born to a drifter who did his duty by her and then left her to drift on her own. Of course a woman with no roots, no friends, and no family needs a town where it seems every family has a long history and a man who cannot by heritage or integrity leave it.

Of genealogy interest is that the Jillian character is in search of her father and story of her birth. Gram is able to tell her, amidst memory lapses, that her mother was a married woman who left town but once lived on a farm nearby. Now as a genealogist, as I was reading this book I wanted to tell the characters how to find out more.  Jillian's love interest finds a newspaper article about her father who was in town for the rodeo and he's able to verify a brief employment with a local company that had employee records. 

The stories that serve as the basis for quilts left behind in the store helps create the small town in Texas atmosphere.

Which reminds me that YOU might just have a story quilt in your attic. 

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All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights