The Underground Railroad Quilt

There is a popular quilt story that says that quilts were used to guide escaped slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad.  Some quilt historians cried fowl, stating that there is no documentation to support this story, the fabrics didn't exist at that time, etc.  I graduated from a well-known research university and can appreciate the integrity of research.  I am also the daughter of a man who grew up in rural Alabama in the county next door to the Gee's Bend quilters.  What the researchers choose to overlook is that blacks of that generation didn't talk until spoken to, especially by white university folks.  It was illegal for us to read and write back then so very little documentation WOULD exist.

One of my favorite books of all time is a children's book called Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson.  It's a story of a young slave girl, a seamstress in the Big House, who dreams of freedom and a reunion with her mother who lives on another plantation.  She overhears two slaves talking about the Underground Railroad and decides to make a special applique quilt, a map that no master would ever suspect.  The book is beautifully illustrated by James Ransome and is available through Barnes&Noble and Amazon.

The book that started all of the controversy is Hidden In Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad, by Raymond Dobard & Jacqueline Tobin.  Quilt historian Barbara Brackman has written on this topic, among others. 

If you are interested in the blocks and their meaning, check out the Underground Railroad Sampler by popular quiltmaker and author Eleanor Burns.  I will share some of the blocks in an upcoming post.