Posted by Farmgirl on May 21, 2010 | No Comments
(photo by Declan McCullagh Photograpy)
Did you know your quilt has a secret?
(excerpted from the Quilter’s Muse Virtual Museum)
Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Undergrouind Railroad by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard, Ph.D. (Anchor Books: New York, 1999) explores the idea that a “secret quilt code” was in place during the era of the Underground Railroad. The book is based on the early 1990s oral testimony of an elderly black quilt vendor from South Carolina, the late Ozella McDaniel Williams.
Reportedly, the secret quilt code guided slaves by providing specific directives hidden in quilt block patterns. Each quilt block was meant to be a memory device and conveyed a certain course of action. The following statement by Ozella summarizes the code.
(The words that refer to quilt block patters are in italics.)
“The monkey wrench turns the wagon wheel toward Canada on a bear’s paw trail to the crossroads. Once they got to the crossroads, they dug a log cabin on the ground. Shoofly told them to dress up in cotton and satin bow ties and go to the cathedral church, get married, and exchange double wedding rings. Flying geese stay on the drunkard’s path and follow the stars.”
According to Ozella, the Monkey Wrench block signified to “get your tools ready, for we are leaving soon.” The Wagon Wheel block signaled that escape might be made by wagon. Bear’s Paw indicated that “one should follow the bear’s paw prints, over the mountain.” The Crossroads block symbolized Cleveland, Ohio, while the Log Cabin block instructed the escapee to “dig” a log cabin on the ground. (Dobard explains that this curious statement might mean that an individual was to draw the quilt block pattern in the dirt to prove to another person that he was a safe individual with which to communicate.)
Ozella further indicated that the Shoofly block was a signal to “scatter, so you won’t be caught.” The reference to “dress up” and wear satin bow ties is thought to have reminded slaves to dress well so that they would blend in and avoid detection.
Flying Geese blocks directed escapees to follow the Canadian geese north to Canada. The published name of the block called Flying Geese in Hidden in Plain View is actually Dutchman’s Puzzle. In this configuration, if two of the geese were a different color than the rest, they might signal the direction in which to travel, according to the interpretation of the code.
The Drunkard’s Path block reminded slaves not to travel in a straight line, for safety’s sake. If made in blue and white, the block would keep away evil, according to African beliefs. The reference to “stars” in the code is believed to indicate the Big Dipper constellation, also called “The Drinking Gourd” in a Negro spiritual. The “North Star” block shown in Hidden in Plain View is more commonly know as “Evening Star.” After 1933, Old Chelsea Station published a number of blocks called North Star but they are quite unlike Evening Star.
Of course, a bunch of historians got together and said this is all a myth and highly unlikely. I don’t know one way or the other … but I it sounds quite plausible to me. So take a look at the quilts you treasure … is there a secret code you can decipher?
For more information:
Underground Railroad Quilt Code
Quilt Code Examples
