Crafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African American Quilters by Patricia Turner, (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2009), with a foreword by Kyra Hicks, is a book that has graced my bookshelf for months without my opening it, until tonight! Knowing how quickly book titles go out of print, when I come across a title that sounds pertinent to quilt history, I usually try to acquire it.
Sometimes, I just don’t have the time to do as much reading as I would like, but remembering that Patricia Turner was reported to have shared some comments about the Underground Railroad and purported quilts that helped slaves to safety, I decided to turn to that chapter to see what she said.
I was not disappointed. She presents a very balanced view, ending her remarks with a description of how she teaches her students to authenticate topics related to the Underground Railroad. Describing slavery as an “egregiously dehumanizing institution,” she exclaims that the “Underground Railroad can be an enormous source of pride to anyone who wants to find noteworthy achievements embedded within the ‘peculiar institution’.”
She states: This is the truth that undergirds the legend that quilts facilitated the escape of slaves. The sources I train my students to use don’t authenticate a quilt code. They do, however, affirm that nineteenth-century African Americans were enormously creative and courageous.
Finding these statements was a pleasant experience! Now, I hope to read the rest of Turner’s book that explores the “creations and wisdom” of nine quilters.
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications
