quiltersmuse.com Blog

This is a copy of a post I wrote to an online mailing list earlier today. I decided to share it with you, my readers.

Recently, a museum interpreter told me that more than ever the children visiting
on school trips ask if she knows about the secret quilt code. A few of them have
referred to a recent “video” they saw in school. Reportedly, the film links
Harriet Tubman with quilts (in some fashion).

Whoever is continuing to support the half-baked and fictional idea of quilts
being used as message devices on the Underground Railroad must have some greater
agenda to advance. “Why?” remains the question.

Enough of us who care about history and quilt history, in particular, have come
forward in a very straightforward and vocal way to dispute the “code” and to
give many, many reasons why it is not a viable concept.

Yet, we hear of museums going through their collections to “find” examples of
Underground Railroad Quilts that are just lurking and waiting to be
rediscovered. The would-be historians have a lot to learn. Part of that learning
includes the fact that no one can look at a quilt of any kind and surmise the
quilter’s intention. When that person is dead, we can never know that
information. Unless there is written provenance or facts that can be verified,
reading in a new meaning where none existed before is dangerous business.

Trouble is, people hears bits and pieces of hearsay and sincerely WANT to
believe the “new” history information. Apparently, it suits their sensibilities
to think that slaves were empowered by quilts.

To add to the problem is the fact that we all tend to believe what we see in
print and that is the danger of felonious newspaper articles written by
non-specialists.

The sad part is that this problem does not seem to be going away. Worst of all,
the tall tale has been inflicted upon our gullible young people, encouraged by a
school system that wants to “cover” Black history, but in a sanitized and
acceptable way, without the mention of whippings, greed, blood and pain.

I’ve said way too much on this topic already. It grieves my heart that my words
fall on deaf ears and have not filtered out to the general public who needs to
hear them. Yes, there is now a consensus among quilt historians and some
historians that the secret quilt code is not creditable history.

The trouble is that most people don’t bother analyzing a topic from a historical
perspective. Yet, they “think” they know everything about it.

The myth in question has morphed into a new problem. In light of the lack of
information about REAL Civil War quilts, the general public is making a lot of
quilts from quilt patterns sold as “Civil War” quilts that are supposedly
reproductions. In one instance, I asked a seller of a “reproduction” Civil War
quilt to tell me which quilt it was based upon. The word “reproduction” suggests
that the quilt is similar to an actual artifact. I was told that the quilt in
question was called a “reproduction” because it uses “reproduction” fabrics; and
that I am too “picky.” Go figure. To some… any way to make money is okay and
historical accuracy is not the goal.

My best,

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

Unfortunately, when I refer to “fabrications” I am not referring to anything related to “fabrics” but in this case, the tales are created out of “whole-cloth.”

The first indication that Black History Month is approaching (in February) is another mention of the so-called “secret quilt code.” The reappearance of this myth is inevitable, just as the same Tulips pop up in my garden each April. “Look!”: An historical fabrication is a story that is a product of someone’s imagination but has no basis in reality and has little to do with the facts.

Giles Wright, himself a black instructor at the college level and a holder of a Ph.D. degree, was the first and loudest critic of the book Hidden in Plain View that started a controversy in history and quilt history circles in 1999. He was an avid researcher and wrote a book about the Underground Railroad in his home state of New Jersey. Surely, he was not unsympathetic to the cause of escaping black slaves before the days of Abolition. I’m afraid that Mr. Giles would be turning over in his grave if he were to read the rehash that I just read (in a publication I will not name) and the “anonymous” writer’s conclusion:

Even in this controversy, the authors [Dobard and Tobin] stand by their book. (I say, why wouldn’t they? It’s making money and besides, do you know anyone who would take issue with their own work / or book?)

The article ends with this statement: “Besides, fact of myth, it makes for a wonderful story.” (As a friend of mine used to say, “Hey, Pat, why let the facts ever stand in the way of a good story?”)

Therein, my friends, lies the problem: people writing about history in this manner: “We may not know the song so let’s make it up, as we go along.” In this case, the song is nonsense babble and can never be anything else.

For heaven’s sake, why not honor the ongoing accomplishments of our black brothers and sisters which speak for themselves? Let’s forget this all hyped-up “excursion” into fantasy land.

I’ve written extensively about this topic, in published venues as well as on my own website. Do yourself a favor. Check out my files about quilts and the Underground Railroad. Before you go racing to your quilt shop to make an “Underground Railroad” quilt, please realize that the books out there on this subject were written for fun and profit and not necessarily to serve the cause of honoring either blacks or history. Buyer, beware!

That’s the view from here.

Patricia Cummings

Eliza’s Rail Tales by Judy Haslee Scott is a novel written for children. The subtitle of the book is The Underground Railroad and Codes of Quilts. This book was first published as a paperback in March 2008. Amazon is carrying it at $28.79 and sellers of used books are offering it for up to $49.51, a fact that I do not quite understand. However, let’s not get diverted from the topic.

When I first learned that a review copy of the book is available to publishers, I requested one. I was told that X Libris prints the book, on demand, and that the process takes 10 days and then another 3-5 days to mail it. However, the book never showed up in my mailbox. That is no surprise.

As a prolific writer who has condemned the myth of quilts being used on the Underground Railroad as signaling devices, and as someone who has studied the history of this idea, my predicted reaction to this book was probably abundantly clear.

The most startling fact of all is that the author, a retired teacher, proposes class exercises centered around the certain quilt blocks pointed out to be those that helped the slaves communicate. In a world that thrives on hearsay and repetition of false information in the name of scholarship, this is just one more example.

I truly wish that more actual stories of real events surrounding the Underground Railroad would be told. I am sure there must be many more accounts regarding slaves who passed through New Hampshire, for example, as the state borders Canada, a slave destination.

To call something “a novel” means that the story is made up in the author’s head. That is one thing, but then to turn around, and teach fables as history, is quite another matter.

For quilt historians, this kind of book is irritating at best, and damaging to the children in our schools who are taught to believe their teachers, when, in essence, their teachers are imparting lies. They “heard it through the grapevine … ” Ozella McDaniel Williams’ “secret quilt code” has taken on a life of its own.

Recently, I came across a U Tube offering. It was a video of children telling the stories of quilt blocks and what they meant on the Underground Railroad, and as photos of quilt blocks went by, I happened to notice a “Wagon Wheel” block that was conveniently “lifted” right off my website. The antique block is a complex one that would have required a lot of time to piece by hand, and it is made of late nineteenth century print fabrics, including the color, Cadet Blue, that did not appear until the early 1870s, after the Civil War had ended. You can see the framed block, no doubt severed from a quilt, and framed, by clicking the link.

Fantasy is more fun than facts, at times, but let’s speak the truth when it comes to teaching children “History.”

Patricia Cummings, Quilter’s Muse site

I have just finished writing a new article that I have posted to the website:

The Secret Quilt Code and Black History Month – 2007: A Wrap Up of The Controversy

http://www.quiltersmuse.com/the_secret_quilt_code_2007.htm

Patricia

If you took the time to click on the link that I provided you in the last blog post, you would have read a mainstream media article by Joel Thurtell in the Detroit Free Press, online, that takes a very fanciful approach by providing the reader a three-question “quiz” at the beginning of the article.

The query serves to illustrate the point that if you were an escaping slave, you would not have looked at fences with quilts hanging on them to tell you where to go, etc.

Somehow, ever since 1999, and even preceding that time, (due to a children’s book), the idea of a secret quilt code has taken wings and flown to greater heights. The more outlandish and far-fetched it has become, and the more stretched it has become, even beyond what is stated in the book, Hidden in Plain View, seemingly the more willing the general public has been to embrace what historian and author, Fergus M. Bordewich, calls “false history.” He is the author of a book titled, Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America.

According to the Thurtell article, Yale historian David Blight has also joined the ranks of those of us who oppose the secret quilt code because it has no basis in history: in either American history, the history of the Underground Railroad, or quilt history.

Why do museums continue to give lip-service (and displays) to notions that have been discounted by so many professionals?

The answer is simple. Providing a quilt to view, and assigning a meaning to certain quilt blocks is “easy.”

For example, it is much easier than reminding people that escaping slaves had their ears cut off and were sometimes castrated, or both, to make an example of them. Showing a quilt is easier than talking about the sexual predation that went on between “master” and a pretty slave girl. It is easier than discussing the fact that President Jefferson reportedly fathered children as a result of inter-racial relations. It is easier than talking about the coarse cloth that negroes, as they were called, were supposed to wear. The cloth was milled in the north and specifically called, “negro cloth.”

Yes, the real history is tough, mean, and hateful. Most of us don’t want to think about it.

One thing we also do is to exaggerate the past. Harriet Tubman has been reported to have conducted 300 slaves to freedom. Historians now say that the number was more like 70. The correct number detracts nothing from Tubman’s bravery. I highly recommend Kate Clifford Larson’s biography of Tubman entitled, Bound for the Promised Land. Her site is well worth visiting: www.harriettubmanbiography.com

Catherine Clinton has also wrote a biography of Harriet Tubman, in 2005. The book’s title is Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. I enjoyed reading both books.

Ever since the publication of Hidden in Plain View, a few other people have suddenly decided to tell their own family slave story related to quilt blocks. One, in particular, falls flat in the details. I was so disgusted by the book, I will not even give the name a mention.

Everybody and their aunt Nellie is coming out of the woodwork to “present” the story of the secret quilt code. Why? For something green, of course! There are enough people around, who ARE “green,” when it comes to the code, these presenters rely on folks not having heard of it before, or the controversy surrounding it.

Lest this blog post become a total rant, I shall have to say that this month, I have been encouraged by the number of creditable news sources, unrelated to quilting venues, that have come out with articles about this subject. Responsible newspaper entities are rising to the cause.

The American public has been duped long enough. We are having the new “curriculum” of the secret quilt code shoved down the throats of our unsuspecting youngsters. Enough is enough!

The code was even due to be engraved at the base of a monument to honor Frederick Douglass in Central Park. Surely, such a man would not be honored by the perpetuation of a fantasy, in this way.

I am sorry. I am sorry for the suffering of ALL minority groups, including formerly enslaved Blacks. I am sorry that there is no substantiation whatsoever for the secret quilt code. I am sorry for those who have been taken in under its spell. I am sorry for those who have been led astray by false media publications, from how-to quilt books, to a pseudo-scholastic book, to a bogus magazine article.

I don’t make history, and I can’t change it, or re-write it. I can only interpret it. I hate the role of naysayer, yet, that role keeps finding me, in regard to this issue that has become like a thorn in the side of every well-informed quilt historian.

Sometimes, life is not as pretty as quilt blocks; not as soothing, nor as heart-warming, nor as inspiring, as beautiful quilts, made with love. Make a gorgeous quilt and have fun doing it! Just do me one favor? Please, don’t call it an Underground Railroad, “secret quilt code” quilt!

Patricia

An alert webmaster has posted the following links on his church’s website so that the church members can do some further reading online about the Underground Railroad and Quilts, a controversy of which he was unaware until a speaker on this subject was booked, for the end of February.

More links:

The Underground Railroad Quilt Code, by Leigh Fellner.

Barbara Brackman’s Fact Sheet on The Quilt Code.

Black Threads: Explorations in African American Quilting, Quilt History, Fabrics and other Fanciful Topics.

The Underground Railroad and the Use of Quilts as Messengers for Fleeing Slaves by Kimberly Wulfert, PhD.

An American Quilt Myth: The Secret Quilt Code of the Underground Railroad by Patricia L. Cummings, quilt historian.

Threads of Freedom: The Underground Railroad Story in Quilts, an exhibit at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.

We are very blessed that this man was so observant and on the ball. He has been visiting various websites this past week and reports having learned a lot about quilts and their history! Amen.

Earlier tonight, I had posted a long blog post about the underground railroad and the secret quilt code. I have since deleted it. I have already said all that I can, in the files of my website. I’ve decided that for me to dwell on this subject is the use of time that could be spent more creatively. I will let my extensive writings, already in place, speak for themselves, knowing that I have already “done my part,” in trying to set the record straight.

Patricia

This Underground Railroad and Quilts controversy
has many levels, including, but not limited to: 

1) the historical end, where historians try
to address everything on a factual basis, thinking
that what we say will be convincing; 

2) the economic end, for people who want
to profiteer by publishing books, magazine
articles, patterns, and other mainstream media;

3) the cultural end, where it is a matter of
cultural pride to think that slaves cleverly
divined ways to outsmart their masters; and a
cultural tradition where storytelling
is an ancient and revered practice;

4) the politically correct end, that involves
pandering to false history in the name of not
being offensive to anyone, especially to a
minority group, a way of acting which, in fact,
perpetuates false information that, in the end,
serves no one;

5) and the educational end, that has to do with
promoting incorrect information for the sake
of "covering" Black History, in a seemingly
pleasant, painless, and palatable way.

Well, after having gotten slapped upside the head because I thought that January was Black History Month (due to New Hampshire’s celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day), I am happy to know that (most) people, apparently, in the United States celebrate Black History Month in February. Keep in mind, as I learned, too, that some states have a celebration in June, and yet others celebrate in August.

An aside: I have but one day to celebrate being Irish-American, March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day, but I am not complaining because I enjoy being Irish, every day!

I am pleased that Americans are beginning to celebrate diversity. The fact that so many people are rushing into ways to honors Blacks is resulting in some horrible mistakes. Some of the damage to historical truth (like spreading the so-called secret quilt code) can never be totally undone, and we will just have to chock up these misstatements as a creation of new legends.

“The New York Times” this week ran an article about a statue to Frederick Douglass which was to have been erected in Central Park, with the words of the “secret quilt code” encircling his feet. Oh, my! Historians have cried out loudly about that error, and it appears that the statue will be re-designed.

Right now, on my website, there are three large articles which are comprised of explanation and commentary about why the “secret quilt code” as described in the book, Hidden in Plain View, could not have existed, according to what we know about quilts and certain quilt block configurations and when they came into being, as well as other well-thought-out reasons, such as facts surrounding the Underground Railroad escape system.

Any bright person who has spent more than half a minute at my website would be able to figure out that I am not a bigot.

Today, we traveled to the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine to see the traveling exhibit of Francisco Goya’s “Los Caprichos,” a large collection of satirical and social commentaries translated into visual media, namely, prints. It is a long drive from here, so we had a chance to chat. Jim said that he thinks that anyone who opposes the secret quilt code stands to be labeled a “racist.”

If that is the case, it’s really too bad that anyone would dismiss my scholarly considerations by referring to me with a trite, and overworked label. Shows no creativity at all, and it actually indicates prejudice and backwardness, on the part of the speaker.
In many parts of America, bigotry is still alive and well. Make that Bigotry, with a capital “B.” Recently however, that kind of hatefulness seems to be primarily directed toward people who are Islamic, Jewish, or Mexican. This is an alarming and distressing trend.

Many years after the end of slavery in America, we are beginning to act decently toward descendants of slaves, and other Black Americans. At least there are many “mouth noises” in that direction.

We all need to respect each other, regardless of national origins or heritage, and we also should stop trying to stick labels onto other people. One word or label can never sum up a human being. In fact, seven years ago, I wrote a poem about that very idea:
On Labeling

Patricia L. Cummings, September 2, 2000

At the cupboard, I try to decide, will it be soup or spaghetti?
The label that helps me to choose
precludes me from opening beets or confetti.

Labels for food would most certainly be missed
were a youngster, bored, to remove them
but labels for people, just don’t seem to work
as much as we try to conjure them.

Until you are dead, you will all live in dread
of the words people say about you.
But you know who you are, and the gifts that you have,
so turn a deaf ear to the critics.

I appreciate people who are broad-minded, and accepting of each other, and who are not so quick to judge and make pronouncements that are simply not true. And, I really respect those who treat history seriously and who don’t conjure up false stories or promote them, just because they may sound good at the time or seem suitable to stick into an educational curriculum to fill that need for “diversity.”

We shall celebrate Black History Month, in its official designated time slot, beginning in just a few days, but let’s not forget that we seem to have a long way to go until there is “liberty and justice for all.”

The American Flag…Long May She Wave!
The Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave!
Patricia Cummings

I have just posted a new essay online entitled, “The Secret Quilt Code and the Underground Railroad Commentary: How Does Telling Lies Honor Black History?”

The link is this:

http://www.quiltersmuse.com/secret_quilt_code_and_the_ugrr.htm

Patricia Cummings