| Abstrakt: |
According to some historians, enslaved Africans used hand-stitched quilts to share information and send signals to each other about their plans and escape routes. Some say that the patterns, colors, and stitches in a quilt drew a picture of the land. Many historians, who study the Underground Railroad do not agree on the role played by quilts in helping slaves gain their freedom. But it seems that handmade quilts may have been an important guide on the road to freedom. For many slave girls and women, sewing was just one of their jobs. Slave owners had no idea that when slaves hung their quilts outside to "air out," they were sending secret messages about their plans to escape to freedom. |
