Hidden in Plain Sight: Quilts as Signals Along the Underground Railroad

Transcription

1 Hidden in Plain Sight: Quilts as Signals Along the Underground Railroad VA SOL: US 9c, f Objectives: As part of our visit to your classroom, students will review the history of the Underground Railroad and look at different quilt patterns that - based on oral tradition-- may have been used as signals along the Underground Railroad. Students will then make a quilt pattern using wallpaper squares. PROGRAM CONTENT What was the Underground Railroad? Underground Railroad refers to all the various ways slaves escaped to freedom, and the people along the way who helped slaves escape. There are different stories explaining how this system of helping slaves escape got its name. Underground also refers to secret. From the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs: LC-USZ History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 1

2 How did the Fugitive Slave Act Affect the Underground Railroad? Before the Fugitive Slave Act, slaves who left the plantations and made it to Northern states were considered safe from slave catchers. The Fugitive Slave Act made it possible for slave catchers to pursue and recapture slaves who had escaped to the Northern States, and for authorities to arrest and prosecute people who helped slaves escape. After passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, many escaping slaves traveled to Canada. Why was it necessary to keep secret communications that helped slaves escape? Giving special meanings to everyday items like different quilt patterns-- was one of many ways to communicate and keep the messages secret. These meanings were shared only with certain people along the Underground Railroad. Not all escaping slaves or guides along the Underground Railroad would have learned all the messages quilts could communicate. Quilts hung on the clothesline or over the porch railing so they would be visible to all, but would have special meaning only for a few who knew the secret messages the quilts conveyed. History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 2

3 What is Oral Tradition? Oral tradition refers to information that is not written down, but is passed down verbally from family member to family member or among close friends. Oral tradition only becomes widely known when the information is shared with other people. The stories about quilts used as signs along the Underground Railroad were told by Ozella McDonald Williams; her grandmother told the stories to her. Different quilt patterns had secret meanings. Some of the patterns and their meanings include Monkey Wrench : the carpenter will help a slave escape; Wagon Wheel or Dresden Plate : the slave will escape in a wagon, Bear Paw pattern: follow the path of the bear through the mountains; Cross Roads refers to places just across the Mason Dixon line where many different paths or ways to travel would take the escaped slave further north; Shoo Fly : is the fixer, he s the one who will tell the escaping slave where to go and what to do next, Bow Tie : indicates a place to get rid of slave clothes and get into clothes indicating a free black man or woman; Log Cabin : a yellow center or a black center means this is a home friendly to escaping slaves; North Star : go this way north follow the drinking gourd ; and Flying Geese : could be used to indicate not only north, but other directions also. History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 3

4 VOCABULARY Abolitionist someone who supports the abolition or the ending of slavery Big Dipper the group of seven stars in Ursa Minor resembling a dipper in outline, also part of a larger constellation known as Ursa Major, the Great Bear Conductor a person who conducts: a leader, guide, director or manager The Drinking Gourd a song that was supposedly used by Underground Railroad operatives to encode escape instructions and a map Fixer a person who uses influence or makes arrangements for another, especially by unlawful means Fugitive someone who flees from justice, enemies or brutal treatment, especially to avoid arrest or punishment Mason Dixon Line the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, often considered the boundary between free and slave states Oral tradition a community s cultural and historical traditions passed down by word of mouth or example, from one generation to another without written instruction Quit a bedcover made by sewing together small pieces of material to create a design (piecework) and then adding a big piece of material for the backing, and finally sewing batting or stuffing between the pieced top layer and the bottom layer Underground covert, done in secret or in hiding SELECTED READING 1. Ashby, Ruth. Civil War Chronicles: The Underground Railroad. Smart Apple Media, Bial, Raymond. The Underground Railroad. Houghton Mifflin Co., Carson, Mary K. The Underground Railroad for Kids, from Slavery to Freedom with 21 Activities. Chicago Review Press, Gorrell, Gena K. North Star to Freedom: the Story of the Underground Railroad. Delacorte Press, Hansen, Joyce and McGowan, Gary. Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad. Cricket Books, Huey, Lois Miner. American Archaeology Uncovers the Underground Railroad. Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 4

5 7. Stein, R. Conrad. The Underground Railroad (Cornerstones of Freedom Series). Children s Press, Wilson, Sule Greg C., African American Quilting The Warmth of Tradition. Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., Wolny, Philip. The Underground Railroad. A Primary Source History of the Journey to Freedom. Rosen Publishing Group. New York Monroe, Judy. The Underground Railroad Bringing Slaves North to Freedom. Bridgestone Books, History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 5

6 PRE ACTIVITY Does the Song Follow the Drinking Gourd Provide Specific Directions for Escaping Slaves? Find a recording of Follow the Drinking Gourd on the internet and listen to it. Many people think the words held a secret message for the slaves who sang or listened to the song. Pass out copies of the words to students working in small groups. Ask them to think about what the message in this song could be. Ask them to identify the different visual elements: sun, bird, drinking gourd (big dipper) old man, riverbank, dead trees, a foot print and a peg leg print in the soil, two hills, a big river meeting a small river, Discuss how these elements could be specific directions on how to travel to specific places. After students have made their own interpretations of the song, share the information about Peg Leg Joe. On a map, find the Tombigbee River in Alabama, the Tennessee River and the Ohio River in Kentucky. Students can then draw their own pictures using the visual elements they have identified in the song to show the escaping slaves on their path to freedom. FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD When the sun comes back And the first quail calls Follow the Drinking Gourd, For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the Drinking Gourd. The riverbank makes a very good road. The dead trees will show you the way. Left foot, peg foot, traveling on, Follow the Drinking Gourd. The river ends between two hills Follow the Drinking Gourd. There s another river on the other side Follow the Drinking Gourd. When the great big river meets the little river Follow the Drinking Gourd For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the Drinking Gourd History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 6

7 The Legend of Peg Leg Joe Peg Leg was the nickname often given to a person who had lost a leg and wore a wooden prosthesis. Supposedly Peg Leg Joe had been a sailor before he lost a leg, and afterwards, he worked on plantations doing different jobs. As he went from plantation to plantation, Peg Leg Joe taught the slaves the words to Follow the Drinking Gourd. Each spring after his visits, many young slaves went missing. Many people believe the words in his song tell of a particular escape route beginning in the area near Mobile, Alabama. The escape route was north to the headwaters of the Tombigbee River, through a divide and then down the Tennessee River to where it meets the Ohio River near Paducah, Kentucky. When the sun comes back may refer to the end of winter, the quail is a migratory bird that will begin flying north in the spring; the drinking gourd also indicates north, the old man is probably Peg Leg Joe, and the great big river refers to the Ohio River. The story about Peg Leg Joe has not been not backed up with specific historical evidence and is, therefore, considered to be a folktale. History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 7

8 POST ACTIVITY Making Secret Quilt Messages Students can use Xeroxed copies of different quilt patterns to create their own individual messages. Show them how by providing the example below. After students understand the example, they can then cut out copies of the quilt patterns and arrange them to make different messages. Let students exchange their finished messages and use copies of the key to interpret other students messages. Each student will need: 1. A copy of the example, 2 A copy of the quilt patterns, 3. A copy of the quilt pattern message key, and 4. Several blank sheets of paper, one to make their own messages by cutting and pasting the quilt patterns, another to write down their message, and a third to use when trying to decipher the messages made by other students in the class. 5. Scissors, paste, glue or tape to assemble their messages. Learn How to Make A Quilt Pattern Message Look at the message that is written underneath the four boxes below. Use the Quilt Pattern Key to draw pictures of different patterns in each box to show the message written below each box. What quilt patterns would you use to represent this message? Go north Find a safe house Next morning, The wagon will carry where you can spend hide in a wagon you to a place where the night you will get new clothes Make Your Own Secret Quilt Message History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 8

9 You will need: A copy of the quilt patterns to cut out, a copy of the quilt pattern key, scissors, glue, tape or paste, a piece of paper on which you will put the pieces together to make your quilt pattern message, a piece of paper on which you will write sentences to explain what your quilt pattern message means, and another piece of paper on which you will write sentences to explain what you think someone else s secret quilt message says. What to do: 1. Cut out the quilt patterns. Arrange them to make a message. Your message can be as long as you want it to be, but use at least four of the quilt patterns. On another sheet of paper, write a sentence for each pattern you have used to explain what your secret quilt message says! 2. Exchange messages with another student. Use the Quilt Pattern Key to figure out what the other person s massage says. On a piece of paper, write what you think the persons quilt message is saying. 3. Once you think you have figured out the other person s message, ask to see the person s written description of the secret quilt message and let her/him see yours. History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 9

10 QUILT PATTERNS Bavarian Star Bow Tie Bear Claw Flying Geese Log Cabin Monkey Wrench Shoe Fly Cross Roads Dresden Plate History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 10

11 Quilt Pattern Key North Star Bavarian Star New clothes Bowtie Bear Claw Path through the mountains, Flying Geese North, Direction shown by direction of the triangles Log Cabin Home friendly to escapees Monkey Wrench Carpenter helps plan escape Shoe Fly Tells escapees what to do next Crossroads Place where many routes meet Dresden Plate Wagon Wheel History Museum of Western Virginia Outreach Hidden In Plain Sight Page 11