Underground Railroad(Freedom Quilt)

Slaves could not read or write, it was illegal to teach a slave to do so. Codes, therefore, were part of the slaves existence and their route to freedom, which eventually became known as the Underground Railroad. Some forms of dance, spirituals, code words and phrases, and memorized symbols all allowed the slaves to communicate and their white owners could not understand. Codes were created by both whites aiding the slaves, and by blacks aiding the slaves. The blacks included other slaves, former slaves or free men and women. In slavery, secrecy was one way the blacks could protect themselves from the whites, even the youngest child was taught to effectively keep a secret from anyone outside of the family.

Most quilt patterns had their roots in the African traditions, the slaves brought with them to North America when they were captured and forced to leave their homeland.  Quilt patterns were passed down the same way. In Africa, the making of textiles was done by males.The quilt patterns, used in a certain order, had an outgoing messages to slaves preparing to escape. Each pattern represented a different meaning. Some of the most common were “Monkey Wrench”, “Star”, “Crossroads”, and “Wagon Wheel”. Quilts were slung over a fence or windowsill, it was then passed on the necessary information to knowing slaves. As quilts were hung out in the open, it was a common sight on a plantation, neither the plantation owner or the slave owners would  not notice anything suspicious. They would think It was normal .
Characteristic of African culture is the communication of secrets through the use of common, everyday objects, the objects are seen so often they are no longer noticeable for the slave owners. This applied to the quilts and their patterns, stitching and knotting. It has been suggested that the stitching and the knotting on slave quilts contained secret information, too, as map routes and the distances between safe houses. Using the quilts, spirituals and code words, the slaves could easily communicate non-verbally with each other and aid each other to escape.
]Daniel Afzal.