I love the story of quilts and the Underground Railroad
and I love making quilts with students (and myself.) Deb and I just talked about the unclear
history of quilts and the Underground Railroad. I was very disappointed a few
years ago, after collecting picture books and teaching about the role of
quilts, to find a good bit of information that says this is all a myth. I hate to give up the story but
maybe indeed it’s not true. Below is a link and quote from one website.
The reality of the Underground Railroad
was much less romantic. Escaping enslaved individuals often had no help or
guidance from anyone throughout the majority of their journey. While it is a
common belief that white Northerners were going into the South and bringing
slaves from the farms and plantations into the North, the truth is that most
enslaved individuals left on their own. When the enslaved did have assistance,
the aid they received varied from being given a place to rest in barns and
sheds to being provided with a small amount of food and sent on to the next
location. Those seeking freedom would have had to place a good amount of trust
in the people who were assisting them, for at any moment their safety could be
compromised, leading to recapture.
It is also
a common misconception that all people working to assist escaping individuals
were white Northerners. The fact is that the majority of the conductors on the
Underground Railroad in the South were Black, often still enslaved themselves.
Many people today are familiar with songs and symbols
that were supposedly used by people involved with the Underground Railroad.
Songs include, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Wade in the
Water," "Steal Away," and most famously, "Follow the
Drinking Gourd." Current scholarship is debating the songs being used on
the Underground Railroad or the time / origins of them. There is little to no
historical evidence to suggest that these songs were sung by slaves to help
disseminate knowledge about Underground Railroad routes, safe places, or code
words. Despite this, these songs continue to be cited as key components of the
Underground Railroad.
One of the most
famous symbols of the Underground Railroad is the quilt. Supposedly used as an
indicator of a safe place, it is claimed that quilts were hung from roofs,
barns, and fences to signal to enslaved individuals the location was a station
on the Underground Railroad. There are two pieces of evidence that allow many
historians to question the validity of Underground Railroad quilts. The first
being that no former enslaved individuals accounts mentioned these quilts in
the Works Progress Administration Slave Narratives from the 1930s. Second, that
quilts also were not mentioned in any 19th Century slave narratives. Had these
quilts been utilized by those participating in the Underground Railroad, it is
likely that they would have appeared in at least a few of these narratives.
There is also no hard evidence of their existence; no quilt with proven
Underground Railroad usage has been found. Still, these quilts remain one of
the most famous symbols of the Underground Railroad.
I think that it's imperative to teach authentic and proven information as well. Quite a bit of what our kids hear about many cultures can be folklore, and quilting, even though a huge and important tradition in the African American experience in this country, it's relationship to the Underground Railroad has yet to be documented or substantiated historically, as with the "field hollers" or songs that were believed to have double meaning. NOW-the UGRR as well as many hidden institutions cannot always depend on substantiation from the scientific community either. And quite frankly, sometimes Great-Gramma was right a WHOLE lot that the "scientific community" wasn't. So the way that I handle content like this is to tell the students ALL sides, and allow them to provide me with what they think happened. Many times they will come to the conclusion about oral history and tradition as secret to the hegemonic, but truth to the culture in their own. I don't teach my students information as fact, if I cannot prove it as such, but I feel that tradition, folklore, and "word on the street" is IMPERATIVE when discussing experiences and histories of people. We TOTALLY talk about those songs and quilts, but they are introduced as belief, tradition and as passed down information.
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