Let’s Make an Underground Railroad Quilt Together & Let’s Learn about the Secret Underground Railroad Quilt Code

My Underground Railroad Sampler Book Came in the Mail Today, and It is Perfect!

I try to do something special during February for Black History Month, and I bumped into this outstanding book while researching the Underground Railroad. The book itself is excellently produced, and the photography is outstanding. The book provides a detailed history of how slaves used quilts as a code to navigate the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad Sampler Book provides detailed instructions for making the following quilt blocks:

Monkey Wrench
Wagon Wheel
Bear’s Paw
Crossroads
Log Cabin
Carpenter’s Wheel
Basket
Shoo Fly
Bow Tie
Flying Geese
Birds in the Air
Drunkard’s Path
Sail Boat
North Star

Burns Classifies the Following Quilt Blocks as Easy to Make:

Monkey Wrench
Wagon Wheel
Basket
Crossroads
Log Cabin
Shoo Fly
Flying Geese
Drunkard’s Path
Sail Boat
North Star

Burns Classifies the Following Quilt Blocks as Intermediate:

Carpenter’s Wheel
Bear’s Paw
Bow Tie
Birds in the Air

Transcript:

“The Underground Railroad wasn’t a train at all. The Underground Railroad refers to the 19th-century movement that transported thousands of slaves to freedom and a network of participants conductors who were both black and white shepherded the slaves called

 passengers North to Canada. They [the conductors] harbored them in stations or safe houses

Let’s follow a slave woman living in a small shack on a plantation in the South. It’s the 1830s.

“They were to travel to the crossroads. Cleveland, Ohio, was the main crossroads or the major terminal into Canada.  Each station had a name and Cleveland was known as hope. When they were delivered, the men were called hardware, and the ladies were called dry goods,  Once they reached Cleveland, their lives changed drastically,

“The Crossroads was the fourth quilt displayed. It has circular stitches.

The ladies sat at the quilting frame and made an arc with their hands….

[“The Crossroads is] easy to do. It’s just like a nine patch.

“You just start with two and a half

inch strips make one set with two

backgrounds in one dark and then cut

them into two and a half inch sections

you need to have two per block and then

make a second set with two dark and one

background only one section this time so

the blocks into a nine patch and then

measure them and then you set them

together with squares cut the same size

and side and corner triangles and you

will have a crossroads quilt

well now you too can read that secret

code of the first four blocks


13:30
The monkey wrench turns the
13:36
wagon wheel toward Canada on a bear’s
13:39
paw Trail to the crossroads well they’re
13:43
at the crossroads now they need to find
13:47
a safe place
13:52
by the Thunder
13:54
Oh Oh trumpet songs will be in my soul.

the log cabin quilt is the fifth quilt

in the secret code now perhaps runaways

were to look for a specific log cabin in

Cleveland that was a safe house well

research did not uncover it but after

all it was a long time ago and this is

oral family history or the quilt may

have indicated to build a log cabin to

weather out the winter. That sounds

cozy and safe to me…

[“On the] plantations in the south quilt washing day was fun for children. First their mothers filled

Monkey Wrench.

The Monkey Wrench Quilt was the first quilt displayed as a code on the Underground Railroad. It signaled to the Slaves that  It Was Time to Gather the Tools Necessary for the Journey Ahead via the Underground Railroad.

“Monkey Wrench – It is time to collect and organize for the trip. Tools, food, any money the slaves possessed should be secured.” freequilt.com

Wagon Wheel

The Wagon Wheel Quilt was the second quilt displayed as a signal for slaves on the Underground Railroad.

“Wagon Wheel – This symbol’s message was to pack up those possessions they had been collecting and get ready for the trip.” freequilt.com

Bear’s Paw

The Bear‘s Paw Quilt was the third quilt displayed as a signal for slaves on the Underground Railroad.

“Bear Paw – A bear will travel to food and water, so this block advises the slaves to follow literally a bear’s trail through the woods to find something to eat and drink.” freequilt.com

Crossroads

The Crossroads  Quilt was the fourth quilt displayed as a signal for slaves on the Underground Railroad.

Crossroads – “The crossroads were towns and cities where the travelers could find safety and protection. On the shores of Lake Erie, Cleveland was the main crossroad with a number of overland trails that all came together there. From there water routes to Canada took the slaves to freedom.” freequilt.com

The Log Cabin Quilt was the fourth quilt displayed as a signal for slaves on the Underground Railroad. 

 

Carpenter’s Wheel

“Carpenter’s Wheel – The carpenter in this case was Jesus. This block, much like the song ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot,’ was a signal to follow directions and travel north to Ohio.” freequilt.com

 

Basket

“Basket – Food and provisions were always in short supply, and abolitionists would hang this quilt in view to indicate that food and tools were available to those who were in need.” freequilt.com

 

 

Shoo-Fly

Bow Tie

Flying Geese

Birds in the Air

Drunkard’s Path

Sail Boat

North Star

 

 


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