I found this story reported yesterday online in Time. In Unravelling the Myth of Quilts and the Underground Railroad oral historian Laurel Horton tries to trace and debunk the story of how coded signs on quilts helped slaves escape on the Underground Railroad. Quilters will find this interesting.
For your stitching adventures!
Judy, Laurel Horton is also saying this story is a myth – which is one of the reasons I posted a link to the article
Sharon,
This is fascinating stuff, I had heard mention of the Underground Railroad as a slve escape route but had no idea there was a link to quilts.
Thanks, Judy.
Barbara Brackman, a noted quilt historian in the US, has completely debunked this myth. The misinformation makes her mad because it takes attention away from the real stories of the slaves in America….
Absolutely fascinating. I had never heard about this but it doesn’t surprise me. I see a lot of quilts who use symbols words and messages. I quite often have a look through symbols.com somehow we all like to leave our mark in some way or form. I also use the symbols as inspiration for new stitch patterns for seams when I get stuck for ideas. Thanks for sharing this story.