Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad

When quiltmaker Ozella McDaniels told Jacqueline Tobin of the Underground Railroad Quilt Code, it sparked Tobin to place the tale within the history of the Underground Railroad. Hidden in Plain View documents Tobin and Raymond Dobard's journey of discovery, linking Ozella's stories to other forms of hidden communication from history books, codes, and songs. Each quilt, which could be laid out to air without arousing suspicion, gave slaves directions for their escape. Ozella tells Tobin how quilt patterns like the wagon wheel, log cabin, and shoofly signaled slaves how and when to prepare for their journey. Stitching and knots created maps, showing slaves the way to safety. The authors construct history around Ozella's story, finding evidence in cultural artifacts like slave narratives, folk songs, spirituals, documented slave codes, and children's' stories. Tobin and Dobard write that "from the time of slavery until today, secrecy was one way the black community could protect itself. If the white man didn't know what was going on, he couldn't seek reprisals." Hidden in Plain View is a multilayered and unique piece of scholarship, oral history, and cultural exploration that reveals slaves as deliberate agents in their own quest for freedom even as it shows that history can sometimes be found where you least expect it. --Amy Wan From the Forewords :"Tobin and Dobard have taken quilt scholarship to another level. They have revealed that quilts are at once sources of pleasure, information, and meaning and are central to understanding the history of people of African ancestry in North America." --Floyd Coleman, Ph.D."Jacqueline Tobin is to be applauded for being in the right place at the right time, and having enough faith to go back again and again to listen to the story of one family's effort to encode knowledge in their quilt tops. And one salutes her partnership with Raymond Dobard, whose knowledge of quilting technology is so outstanding. Their persistence--is vital to our understanding of African American culture and its myriad contributions to American life."--Maude Southwell Wahlman, Ph.D., author of Signs and Symbols: African Images in African American Quilts "By engaging in a vast amount of research, authors Tobin and Dobard have established a significant linkage between the Underground Railroad effort, escaping slaves, and the American patchwork quilt."--Cuesta Benberry, author of Always There: The African American Presence in American Quilts From the Inside Flap are five square knots on the quilt every two inches apart. They escaped on the fifth knot on the tenth pattern and went to Ontario, Canada. The monkey wrench turns the wagon wheel toward Canada on a bear's paw trail to the crossroads--"And so begins the fascinating story that was passed down from generation to generation in the family of Ozella McDaniel Williams. But what appears to be a simple story that was handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter is actually much, much more than that. In fact, it is a coded message steeped in African textile traditions that provides a link between slave-made quilts and the Underground Railroad.In 1993, author Jacqueline Tobin visited the Old Market Building in the historic district of Charleston, South Carolina, where local craftspeople sell their wares. Amid piles of beautiful handmade quilts, Tobin met African American quilter Ozella Williams and the two struck up a conversation. With the admonition to "write this d From the Forewords :"Tobin and Dobard have taken quilt scholarship to another level. They have revealed that quilts are at once sources of pleasure, information, and meaning and are central to understanding the history of people of African ancestry in North America." --Floyd Coleman, Ph.D."Jacqueline Tobin is to be applauded for being in the right place at the right time, and having enough faith to go back again and again to listen to the story of one family's effort to encode knowledge in their quilt tops. And one salutes her partnership with Raymond Dobard, whose knowledge of quilting technology is so outstanding. Their persistence--is vital to our understanding of African American culture and its myriad contributions to American life."--Maude Southwell Wahlman, Ph.D., author of Signs and Symbols: African Images in African American Quilts "By engaging in a vast amount of research, authors Tobin and Dobard have established a significant linkage between the Underground Railroad effort, escaping slaves, and the American patchwork quilt."--Cuesta Benberry, author of Always There: The African American Presence in American Quilts Jacqueline Tobin is the author of The Tao Women, and is also a teacher, collector, and writer of women's stories. She lives in Denver, Colorado. Raymond Dobard, Ph.D., is an art history professor at Howard University and a nationally known African American quilter. He lives in Washington, D.C. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. "Write This Down" In 1994 I traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, to learn more about the sweet-grass baskets unique to this area and to hear the stories of the African American craftswomen who make them.xa0xa0Charleston is rich in history.xa0xa0A port city, where the Ashley River meets the Cooper to form (as locals like to say) the beginnings of the Atlantic Ocean, Charleston today is a place whose buildings and culture reflect the combined and separate histories of American and African American peoples.xa0xa0It is unique as the location where black slaves first set foot on American soil and once outnumbered the white population four to one.A walk through the historic district of Charleston is like a walk through the corridors of American Southern history.xa0xa0Here, one is confronted by all the hustle and bustle of the retentions and re-creations of a bygone era.xa0xa0At the heart of historic Charleston is an imposing brick enclosure with open sides, known as The Old Marketplace.xa0xa0It looks very much as it did over one hundred years ago, as it still defines the length of the district.xa0xa0As it was in years gone by, the Marketplace is still the center of commerce for the area.xa0xa0Under the roof of the structure, long wooden cables, laid end-to-end, go on for blocks to create two narrow avenues for selling wares.xa0xa0As early as 1841 it was a marketplace for fresh vegetables, fish, meats, and ocher goods brought to Charleston from the surrounding farms and plantations and other coastal ports and faraway lands; it is still a vendor's market, but with stark contrasts between the old and the new.xa0xa0African American women sit by pails of sweet grass and weave baskets much as their African ancestors did over a hundred years ago.xa0xa0But these craftswomen, many of them descendants of slaves, are now surrounded by merchants of flea market trinkets, Southern memorabilia, and newer, cheaper baskets from China and Thailand.The smell of the daily ocean catch or freshly slaughtered meats is no longer the predominant early morning smell of the Marketplace.xa0xa0Today the aroma of freshly baked cookies and newly ground coffee beans from the gourmet shops surrounding the area compete for attention.xa0xa0Certain sounds can still be heard; the din of tourists and locals alike crowding the streets and trying to avoid the horses, their hooves providing the percussive rhythm for this city as they clop loudly over original cobblestone streets.xa0xa0Carriages are drawn around the district, past the Custom House and on toward the Battery, where decorative wrought-iron fences accentuate the largess of old historic homes.xa0xa0Taverns and brothels have given way to fern bars and upscale hotels touting Southern hospitality and cuisine.xa0xa0Newly restored, on a lesser traveled street, is the original slave mart, now a historical museum, whose presence jars us into remembering a less civil piece of the history of this Southern port city.As I walked the aisles of the Marketplace, I found myself standing in front of a stall lined with quilts of all sizes, colors, and patterns.xa0xa0I was drawn in by these piles of quilts, as long-forgotten memories of my grandmother's quilt box, filled with her handmade quilts, were brought to mind.xa0xa0Before I could do much looking or reminiscing, an elderly African American woman, dressed in brightly colored, geometrically patterned African garb, slowly walked up to me from the back of the stall.xa0xa0She motioned me to follow her to the back, where an old metal folding chair sat surrounded by more quilts.xa0xa0"Look," she said.xa0xa0She chose one of the quilts from the pile, unrolled it, and while pointing to it said, "Did you know these quilts were used by slaves to communicate on the Underground Railroad?" The old quilter continued to speak but I could not hear her clearly in the midst of the noise of the Marketplace around us.xa0xa0I wasn't sure why she was telling me, a complete stranger, this unusual story.xa0xa0I listened politely for a short while.xa0xa0When I didn't ask any questions, she stopped talking.xa0xa0I purchased a beautiful, hand-tied quilt and left with her flyer advertising "historic Charleston Marketplace" quilts.I returned home with my quilt and memories of Charleston.xa0xa0I hung my quilt and laid my memories aside.xa0xa0I didn't think too much about my conversation with this quilter until several months later when I came across her flyer again.xa0xa0I remembered the story she had started to tell me and I wondered about it.xa0xa0I had never heard such a story or read about it in any books.xa0xa0Was there more to the story? The flyer listed the quilter's name and phone number.xa0xa0I decided to call Mrs.xa0xa0Ozella McDaniel Williams and see if she would be willing to tell me more.xa0xa0When she answered the phone, I reminded her of who I was and asked if I might hear more about how quilts were used on the Underground Railroad.xa0xa0She told me curtly to call back the next evening, which I did.xa0xa0At that time she said, "I can't speak to you about this right now." When I tried pressing her, she laughed quietly and whispered into the phone, "Don't worry, you'll get the story when you are ready." And then she hung up.Ozella had now added an element of intrigue to the already fascinating story.xa0xa0I was hooked.xa0xa0What did she mean by "you'll get the story when you're ready"? I felt I had to explore the story further.xa0xa0If she wouldn't talk, perhaps others would.xa0xa0I began to contact every African American quilter and quilt scholar I could find.xa0xa0I traveled down the Mississippi from St.xa0xa0Louis to New Orleans, stopping to visit quilters and scholars.xa0xa0I toured plantations and slave quarters, looking for clues.xa0xa0Before long, I was speaking to a fairly close-knit circle of people that included art historians, African American quilters, African textile experts, and folklorists.xa0xa0Most of them had heard that quilts had been used as a means of secret communication on the Underground Railroad, but none were exactly sure how.xa0xa0Some referenced particular quilt patterns, some mentioned the stitching, and others cited specific colors.xa0xa0I was not able to find any slave quilts that could verify these stories.xa0xa0Most quilt scholars agreed that few slave quilts had survived the constant strain of excessive use, the poor quality of fabric they had probably been sewn from, and the continual washing in harsh lye soap that would eventually cause them to disintegrate.As a white person conducting research into African American scholarship, I was hesitant at times to continue.xa0xa0Some people were reluctant to share family stories with me.xa0xa0At one point I suggested that Dr.xa0xa0Raymond Dobard, one of the scholars I was conversing with, continue my research by contacting Ozella himself.xa0xa0I was hoping that she would speak more freely to another African American.xa0xa0Raymond, an art history professor at Howard University, a renowned quilter, and a known expert on African American quilts as they relate to the Underground Railroad, seemed to me to be the perfect person to pursue this research with Ozella.xa0xa0However, when I made my suggestion, Raymond insisted that I was the one with whom Ozella felt comfortable telling the story initially and thus should be the one to pursue it.xa0xa0He told me to be patient and that I would indeed get the story when I was ready.xa0xa0With his encouragement I continued my research.Three years after first hearing the story, I had come full circle with my research, but there were still missing pieces.xa0xa0I could add nothing new to the information that was already out there.xa0xa0Still lacking was an elaboration of the story connecting quilts and the Underground Railroad.xa0xa0I was hoping for a final link connecting all the quilt stories with details.xa0xa0My intuition told me that Ozella knew more than what she'd already told me.xa0xa0The only way to find out would be to return to Charleston and see if she would speak to me again.Without contacting her first, I arranged a return visit to Charleston.xa0xa0If Ozella was reluctant to speak, I didn't wane to give her any time to think about it and turn me down without my ability to plead my case in person.xa0xa0Besides, I had done my homework, and maybe, I thought, I was now "ready" to receive the story in full.xa0xa0Armed with information and questions, I felt the time was right.Upon my arrival, I took a carriage tour around the historic Charleston district.xa0xa0I wanted to immerse myself once again in the flavor of the Old South before attempting to talk with Ozella.xa0xa0As the carriage passed the Marketplace, I turned to look, my eyes straining to recognize my quilter friend's face.xa0xa0I recognized her immediately, sitting in the same location, amidst her cables of quilts, just as I had seen her three years prior.xa0xa0Today she was dressed all in white.xa0xa0She had on white slacks and a white blouse decorated with a huge lavender flower hand-painted on the front.xa0xa0She wore a large straw hat with a white band that had the same lavender flower painted on it as well.I completed my carriage ride and walked slowly down the aisles of the Marketplace.xa0xa0I was nervous about meeting her again.xa0xa0Would she remember me? I wondered.xa0xa0What if I had come this far and she still wouldn't speak to me? Or, worse yet, what if she really didn't know anything more than she had already told me? With notebook in hand I took a deep breath and hesitantly approached her.xa0xa0Her back was turned ... Read more