Yesterday, I decided to offer a special online event featuring Anne Lamott’s book about prayer, Help, Thanks, Wow. That decision came after I shared my experience with Light in my garden and afterward when I came inside and randomly fell on the page in Lamott’s book where she talks about Light. I promise…
Category: #Black History Month
How to Sew a Log Cabin Quilt – History of the Log Cabin Quilt Pattern & How It Was Part of the Underground Railroad Slave Code
As part of my celebration of Black History Month, I am researching the Quilt Code that was part of the Underground Railroad’s efforts to help slaves flee bondage. Master Quilter Eleanor Burns has provided the public with several books and videos that are an invaluable resource for both quilters and historians who are interested in…
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…
The Underground Railroad Sampler – Examining the Quilt Code that Helped Slaves Flee from Slavery
In honor of Black History Month, I am studying the Underground Railroad. During February, I’ll be sharing several books about the Underground Railroad, and I’ll also be examining the theory that the slaves developed a quilt code to help them navigate the route toward freedom. I acknowledge that some scholars reject the thought that there…
The Underground Railroad: Excerpts from Reminiscences by Levi Coffin
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: LEVI COFFIN RECEIVING A COMPANY OF FUGITIVES IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. (From a painting by C. T. Webber, Cincinnati, Ohio.) – INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. GENEALOGY. ” THE following brief sketch of the Coffin family is gathered from the first number of the American Historical Record, published at Philadelphia, and from private…
What Is the Drinking Gourd in the Night Sky & How Did Slaves Follow the Drinking Gourd North to Freedom
Night sky illustration of the Big Dipper, or Drinking Gourd, in relation to the North Star and Little Dipper. nps.gov “As slave lore tells it, the North Star played a key role in helping slaves to find their way—a beacon to true north and freedom. Escaping slaves could find it by locating the Big Dipper,…
Follow the Drinking Gourd – The Big Dipper, The Little Dipper, and the North Star
At least as far back as the ancient civilizations, skywatchers have noticed that specific star formations look like ladles or dippers–devices used for drinking. Drinking from ladles was especially common among rural people and fieldhands. The constellation of the Big Dipper looks almost exactly like a kitchen ladle. If the ladle is turned upside down,…