Eager to accept the unbelievable tale that quilt blocks were used as the means of communication between escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad, members of the American public who think that anything in print is totally “the Bible” (particularly when it is written by a professor), have been duped into making so-called “Underground Railroad” quilts. Most of these people who would honor Blacks, their History and therefore, American History, by the creation of their (Underground Railroad) quilts, have not even bothered to read “source” material, nor have accessed the opinions and writings of quilt scholars. They learn of this tall tale via hearsay. Then, working from a how-to quilt book, written by Eleanor Burns, whose specialty is quilt pattern making, not quilt history, the quilters have made “tribute” quilts that simply serve to promote faux history. As I have explained endless times, many of the blocks named in Ozella McDaniel Williams “secret quilt code” were not known to exist at the time of the Underground Railroad. There are many reasons why the quilt block message theory falls apart, more details than I can adequately explain in a short blog. On the other hand, I have produced FOUR lengthy articles about this subject in UnRavel the Gavel newspaper, NeedleArts magazine, and (two) in The Quilter magazine. Much of this information can be read in a number of articles on my website: Quilter’s Muse Publications.
According to the author of Hidden in Plain View, Raymond Dobard, Jr., Ph.D., (published in 1999), his account is speculative that quilt blocks were used as message devices. As a professor of Art History and a quilter himself, for some time he had been looking for quilt block designs that link to his African-American heritage. When Jacqueline Tobin, named as his co-author, contacted Dobard about a “secret quilt code,” recited to her by Ozella McDaniel Williams, a Black quilt vendor in a Charleston, SC marketplace, Dobard believed that this was the connection he’d been seeking. The idea of benign common quilt blocks being used to convey specific messages designed to aid in slave escapes is an appealing one. Unfortunately, that is as far as the concept can be taken. There is absolutely no proof or evidence of any kind, anywhere, or from any time period that supports the theory. Thus, we are left with a fairy tale that we ALL wish had been true.
In spite of the lack of facts to support the theory, charlatans, would-be con artists, and other more well-meaning folks have adopted the “secret quilt code” as viable History. Many articles that present the code as the truth have made their way into newspapers and magazines, touting this “discovery” as a new historical finding. Please look up the word “speculative” in your dictionary, if you do not understand what it means! Schools, the National Parks Service, museums and other great American institutions, charged with sharing the TRUTH, have fallen short of the task. Instead, they have jumped at an opportunity to install this new segment of non-documented information into school curricula and their other venues. Its promotion is a travesty to Black people inasmuch as it replaces the true accounts of bravery, suffering and the role that African-Americans have played in building America. The new “pop” history was even presented on the Oprah show, further solidifying and reinforcing the idea that this must be the truth, in the eyes of the American public.
In light of the current (150th year) Sesquicentennial anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, folks that want to make Civil War tribute quilts have sometimes reproduced blocks named as having been included in an elusive and non-existent, original “Underground Railroad” quilt, in actuality a new product developed just recently. Making these kinds of quilts ignores the fact that there WERE specific quilts and quilt patterns made during the Civil War that are documented, have a known provenance, and are held privately and by major museums.
Historians know of these but this information has not yet come to the attention of the general public. Perhaps, this situation will do a turn about face when I present a program about actual Civil War quilts in an upcoming presentation. I have shared information in various online files already. In September, other researchers will be presenting this general topic, in various talks, at the American Quilt Study Group Seminar in New Jersey… and I know of at least two other quilt historians who are currently compiling information for books about Civil War quilts and textiles. Perhaps, when all of our collective information (that of quilt historians and historians) comes to light, the public will have a better understanding of this important topic in quilt history/American history/women’s history. We can only hope that speculative theories can be put to bed in lieu of the wisdom of collected known information. Keep in mind that repetition of any idea does make it “fact.”
Patricia Cummings
