The premise that quilts contained symbols and secret messages for slaves escaping along the Underground Railroad of the pre-Civil War and Civil War era is met with differing opinions.  However, research continues with some saying there definitely were quilts that aided and others who maintain it’s all a folk tale.

Diane Grenier is a quilter who spent two years researching Underground Railroad quilts and has created a reproduction.  Learn about her own fascinating journey in Heidi Kratzke’s story, “Underground Railroad Quilt” threads way to freedom.

Other stories relating to this topic:

Hidden in Plain View – A Favorite Quilt Book

The Runaway Quilt (An Undergound Railroad Novel)

The Underground Quilt Controversy

Quilters Celebrate Black History Month

Student Makes Quilt Depicting Slavery & the Underground Railroad

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

Underground Railroad Quilts – A Great Fascination

 When I wrote the post, Quilting in the Classroom, Marijke Durning shared with me her daughter’s experience making a quilt for a school project.  I thought it so interesting, I wanted to share it with you.

When my now 19-yr-old daughter was in grade 5, she was studying slavery and the underground railroad. She had read about the quilts that may or may not have been used for escaping and the idea intrigued her.

What she did, with a bit of help from me, is made a picture quilt of what slaves may have had to come across while escaping. She glued fabric to a larger wallhanging size. If I remember correctly, she made a cabin, a river, trees, a clothes line, stuff like that. I helped her sandwich it and put a few stitches in here and there so it looked quilt-like. The project was displayed and she was very happy with it.

She’s never made another quilt, but this one was very special, I think.

I think that sounds like a very special project, too.  My granddaughter, a junior in high school, is making a Civil War era quilt, using reproduction fabrics from that era.  I’ll be writing more about that, as she gets further along with her quilt.

Have you worked with quilting projects in the classroom or in homeschooling?  Have your youngsters made or studied about quilts at school?

I’d love to hear about these projects.

(Marijke Durning is another b5media writer. You’ll find her blog, Help My Hurt, at the Science and Health Channel.)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

Student Makes Quilt Depicting Slavery & the Underground Railroad