Freedom Quilts
Are the Freedom Quilts real? Two historians say African American slaves may of used a quilt code to navigate the Underground Railroad. Quilts with patterns named wagon wheel, tumbling blocks, and bear paws appear to have contained secret messages that helped direct slaves to freedom.
The code "was a way to say something to a person in the presence of many others without the others knowing," "It was a way of giving direction without saying, 'Go northwest.'" The seamstress would hang the quilts in full view one at a time, allowing the slaves to reinforce their memory of the pattern and its associated meaning. When slaves made their escape, they used their memory of the quilts as a mnemonic device to guide them safely along their
Are the Freedom Quilts real? Two historians say African American slaves may of used a quilt code to navigate the Underground Railroad. Quilts with patterns named wagon wheel, tumbling blocks, and bear paws appear to have contained secret messages that helped direct slaves to freedom.
The code "was a way to say something to a person in the presence of many others without the others knowing," "It was a way of giving direction without saying, 'Go northwest.'" The seamstress would hang the quilts in full view one at a time, allowing the slaves to reinforce their memory of the pattern and its associated meaning. When slaves made their escape, they used their memory of the quilts as a mnemonic device to guide them safely along their