"Underground Railroad" Quilts

 

 Underground Railroad quilts displayed by 12- year-olds

who learned all about this era of American History in school.

Too bad "the history" is all myth with no basis in fact

based on a spurious book Hidden in Plain View.

Designs featured in the "Quilt Code" like the Drunkard's Path and the 

Sailboat did not yet exist during the years of slavery.

Do read more about coded UGRR quilts and their inventor at this post:

https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2025/09/when-pigs-fly-award.html

My education is not in textile history but in psychology, teaching in the Behavioral Psychology departments at two Universities where we followed a basic behavioral principle: "Offer an appropriate behavior as an alternative to a problem behavior." In this case the problem is promoting false history through quilts.

I realize ranting against these quilts has little effect on people who want to stitch Black history but for several years I have offered an alternative path: Sampler quilts that tell an accurate story of slavery and liberation.

Stories focused on real women and reliable documents

I've designed three samplers. The most recent is Freedom's Friends, an applique BOM in 2022.

Freedom's Friends by Nat Palaskas

The history comes from William Still's book about fugitives on their way from slavery to freedom.

William dedicated the book to "The Friends of Freedom,"

the "Heroic Fugitives" and their descendants.

See a post with links to the free patterns here:

https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2022/05/freedoms-friends-pattern-post-links-in.html

Freedom's Friends by Deanna Street

Wreath of Hearts by Rebecca Schnekenberger

Link to our Facebook group: Freedom'sFriendsQuiltBOM. It's public so you can join or not.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/325851666128986

Freedom's Friends by Elsie Ridgley

I also published a book with a "History of  Quilts & Slavery" for C&T Publishing.

"8 Projects - 20 Blocks - First-Person Accounts"

Amazon preview here:

https://www.amazon.com/Facts-Fabrications-Unraveling-History-Quilts-Slavery/dp/1571203648?asin=1571203648&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

Facts & Fabrications is out of print but C&T and Amazon will print you a copy of the book on demand. See this link:

https://ctpub.com/products/facts-fabrications-unraveling-the-history-of-quilts-slavery-print-on-demand-edition?srsltid=AfmBOooRtifJkfQtfSInbYzBV-iV-uHuwez2KAKysNSoOYoTlD0jkRKe

I designed a third alternative quilt, Threads of Memory, a pieced BOM with new star designs for this CivilWarQuilts blog in 2014.

Threads of Memory by Jean Stanclift

Jean and Becky made models of the star sampler in very different style.

Threads of Memory by Becky Brown

I designed new star patterns to recall women's stories of escape and assistance, each star named 

 named for an important place where the UGRR assisted slaves on the road to freedom.

Madison Star by Jelibet

I removed the links to free patterns several years ago when I began selling the pattern in my Etsy shop. But in a small gesture to counter the current regime's war on accurate history I will repost the 12 patterns for Threads of Memory next week.

https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2020/07/threads-of-memory-underground-railroad.html

Threads of Memory by Jo Tokla