Web Version
PDF VersionLesson 7: Signs and Symbols
Background
As slaves were utilizing the Underground Railroad to escape from their bondage, it is said that quilts were used by conductors on the underground railway and by safe houses to indicate places where they could safely acquire food, transportation, and rest. Because the information had to be kept secret, there is no written record to support these assertions. Some believe this is a myth and quilts told no story at all.
This lesson will examine some of the quilt patterns and what they may have represented as slaves tried to identify the various routes on the Underground Railroad. Students will create a quilt that shows what they believe might be a safe route to freedom from one of the slave states.
Students will find conflicting information in this lesson because all of this is oral tradition. Use this opportunity to reinforce primary and secondary sources and the importance of being able to confirm any information from more than one source.
This lesson extends the Underground Railroad lesson but can stand alone.
Objectives
After completing this lesson, students will be able to:
- Identify some codes through quilts said to assist slaves as they moved on the Underground Railroad;
- Create quilt patterns that show a path to freedom.
Materials
Internet access
Pictures of quilts and patterns from Web sites:
www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum
http://educ.queensu.ca
Search for UGRR, Click on "Underground Railroad Worksheet" for information about Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt.
Search for UGRR quilt code at these sites:
http://www.nsa.gov/museum/museu00033.cfm
http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr3.htm
www.osblackhistory.com
Lyric Opera of Kansas City site for maps:
www.kcopera.org/About/johnbrowneducation/maps
Paper (large sheets) and markers
Flat bed sheets
Felt
Scissors
Glue
Graph paper
Other art supplies as needed
Optional:
Book: Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad
(1998, Tobin and Dobard)
Time
2-3 class periods
Procedure
Ask students if they have ever used a secret code to communicate with their friends. Let them share some of their experiences. They may talk about using disappearing ink or creating a code of their own using numbers and letters. In history, "one if by land, two if by sea" may be a familiar code to students who have studied the Revolutionary War. If your students have created codes in your class, you can refer to that activity. Text messaging is a form of code used by students today. Have students share some of the text messaging codes.
Say to the students, "Some people say that quilts have a code. The story of quilts in assisting slaves on the Underground Railroad might be familiar to you. What do you know about this connection of quilts to slavery?" Allow students to briefly discuss what they know about the connection of quilts to the Underground Railroad. Record their thoughts on the board. They might mention that the patterns on quilts supposedly represented directions and levels of safety for the slaves who knew the codes. Explain to the students, "This is oral history and there are some who believe these stories have been made up and were not true. However, the stories are intriguing and you will be investigating them more closely."
-
Have students examine some of the quilt patterns. You can find them at www.osblackhistory.com (click on "quilt patterns", then on "Underground Railroad quilt codes"). You will find 18 patterns with explanations of these codes. Another site is at http://educ.queensu.ca. You will need to search for Underground Railroad Quilt Code. This site discusses 10 quilts with 10 patterns along the route. Patterns are also pictured and explained at this site.
If students don't have access to the WWW, you can copy pages from these sites to hand out to students.
-
Have students report back about the types of codes they found that were incorporated into the quilts. They should include codes about directions, preparing for the journey, and people and areas of safety. Ask students if they thought these patterns accurately indicated what they were supposed to show. Ask them if they think they would be able to decode a quilt. Some quilts had only one design that gave directions for the next step on the railroad. Sometimes these quilts were hung on a clothes line to direct slaves as they came by. Occasionally several quilts, each with unique designs, were hung together to indicate a route as they were "read" from left to right on the line.
If you have not completed the lesson on the Underground Railroad, you may want to complete it before you continue. If you have completed it, ask the students what they remember about the Underground Railroad. Elicit the fact that slaves used it as a way to get away from their bondage in a slave state through free states to Canada where they had no fear of being returned. The routes were usually along rivers, over ocean routes, or through wooded areas that could provide shelter and protection. Stations were safe houses where the people could rest or where conductors could guide or take them further along the route.
John Brown was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. He hid and fed slaves when they stopped at his home in North Elba. He took many slaves from his home in Kansas and New York to Canada. When he was in Kansas, he led a group of slaves that he had stolen from Missouri slave owners along a route to Canada.
You can find a map of the Underground Railroad routes at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Web site http://www.kcopera.org/About/johnbrowneducation/maps. Click on the "Archives", "Underground Railroad Assignments", "Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt", then "Underground Railroad routes maps". If you want to copy the map it can be distributed to your students. Or, you can use the map of the U.S. with slave and free states at www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/Socialstd/ following the same path except at the last step click on "U.S. Free and Slave States map". Have students trace one of the routes John Brown used to help slaves escape.
Tell students that they are going to make a quilt that will have directions to help a slave escape. Ask students to tell you what you usually find on a map (roads, major rivers, landmarks, etc.). Ask students what they think would be helpful for slaves to know on any map they would have to help them escape (roads, rivers, landmarks, safe houses, danger areas, etc.).
In groups of no more than 4 students, have students choose one of the routes John Brown took when he helped slaves escape to Canada. They are to design a quilt that contains important information about that area of the country. They may incorporate the symbols from the quilts if they want or they can make their own symbols. The requirements are that the quilt should provide directions for getting from where they are to their destination.
(If students have completed the Underground Railroad lesson, they may want to make a quilt depicting the route they designed in that lesson. Allow them to do this if they wish.)
This process can be accomplished in several ways. Students can sketch their quilt and draw it to scale (students determine the scale to be used). They can also bring in a sheet and cut out felt symbols to glue on the sheet. Older students may want to draw their designs on graph paper and create a quilt with one design using quilt squares. http://www.nsa.gov/museum/museu00033.cfm shows a quilt containing only designs and illustrates the range of possible symbols commonly used. http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr3.htm is another site with pictures and links to other designs. Allow students flexibility in what they create.
After the quilts are finished, have the class members see if they can decode the quilts. Then let the quilt designers tell their stories.
Extension
There is much disagreement about the use of quilt symbols to guide slaves to freedom. Though this lesson has not addressed any of these disagreements, you may want to continue the discussion through an examination of the converse arguments at http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr3.htm. Older students can follow these arguments and continue their research on symbols from this site.
The knowledge of geometry was and is necessary for the precise fitting of various quilt designs, even though early quilt makers probably didn't know they were mathematicians! Mathematics students could take one design and determine the exact size and angles necessary for the squares or other geometrical designs to be able to fit together exactly when joined. After their calculations, they should draw and construct two quilt squares containing pieces of various shapes and see if they fit together.
Essay Contest
Encourage your students to participate in the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Essay Contest. You can find more about it by visiting www.kcopera.org/About/johnbrowneducation/essay.
Lesson created by Martha A. Henry and Keith S. Murray, M.A. Henry Consulting, LLC.