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

by Jacqueline L. Tobin, Raymond G. Dobard

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

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Quilting, African American, Art, Civil War

Hardcover

First published January 19, 1999

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This scholarly book covers how African American slaves stitched the symbols and clues in their quilts to aid in their escape from their plantation masters via the Underground Railroad. I found it intriguing how it was all done. Some of the history is based on speculations and theories. But it made sense to me. Includes lots of photos of the different types of quilts being discussed.

[Kris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really disappointed with this book. I was expecting a scholarly work about a part of history that I'm interested in. I thought that a book written by TWO people with PhD behind their names would at least be organized and on point.

I was wrong.

The authors spend more time second-guessing themselves and possiting questions they are unable to answer instead of focusing on the information they are confident in sharing with their audience.

In the first section, they spend too much time downplaying the use of oral history in contemporary historic studies. Oral history is one of the cornerstones of historic and cultural research, even predating the famous Margaret Meade.

The idea of symbols and codes sewn into quilts by either slaves or abolitionists or both is intriguing and I believe there is information and evidence out there to produce a well-written evaluation of the viability of this idea. I believe someone out there will be able to produce a better-organized work than this.

The only reason I would recommend this work for study is to take advantage of the authors' primary sources. They have an excellent bibliography that will allow other scholars to at least start their own research on the topic of African American textiles, symbolism, and the Underground Railroad.

[Eva Nickelson · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book's title is misleading. There are some quilts, there are escaping slaves, and the two slightly co-mingle. I think this book would have been better titled if it had left out the portion about the quilts.

As a theory for how slaves actively fled plantations and escaped to Canada, this book was poorly paced and out of order. As a "scientific" look at how slaves fled plantations, this book was very, very bad. Evidence was given based on a children's fictional book, which may have been based on a news story on NPR many years back.

When I started this book, I was ready to discredit the theory placed forward by the authors for their terrible ordering and horrible evidence. But during the middle of the book, I was able to piece together enough information to get a look at how a slave would be able to leave the plantation, how they would prepare for the journey, how they could keep up lines of communication throughout the entire community. But the authors were emphasizing an entirely different point, and they were doing it poorly.

While this book increased my interest in how the Underground Railroad worked, it was so much work to read through and weed out the pertinent information from their "scientific" evidence. Not a good read.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this up at the Baltimore Book Thing. I'm about a third of the way through, and thus far am frustrated with the way the authors seem to tease the reader with drip of information, but have yet to follow through with a well-laid out straightforward discussion.

I've also found that there's a lot of question regarding the accuracy of this book; the number of factual errors made by the authors are dismaying. See:

A critique of the book by Giles R. Wright, director of the Afro-American History Program, New Jersey Historical Commission, Trenton

Quilts and the Underground Railroad Revisited: Interview with Historian Giles R. Wright by Kimberly Wulfert, PhD

The Underground Railroad and the Use of Quilts as Messengers for Fleeing Slaves by Kimberly Wulfert, PhD

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hidden in Plain View is ultimately a book about a woman who meets a black quilter at a market in Charleston, SC and goes down multiple rabbit holes to break a secret code. The quilter, Ozella, draws in the author (Tobin) with an oral history of the meaning of quilt lore as used among slaves in the antebellum South. The bits of the book in between the first chapter and the epilogue are the authors' attempts to piece together what the quilting messages might mean and how they may have come about.

The biggest problem with the book is that it's trying to track down facts based on oral history. Not only is the information not written down, but it's typically only passed down to trusted family members. Freed blacks who experienced slavery were loathe to put their experiences into writing and were unlikely to share any of the of details about how they escaped or how the Underground Railroad actually worked -- especially since they often had to rely on other people (white people) write those stories for them.

Because of this, the authors have to rely on conjecture. Just because they're conjecturing, it doesn't mean that what the book posits is Wrong. Tobin and Dobard obviously deeply researched several academic avenues to try to piece the story together. Considering how little credence a modern American audience gives to any thesis that's devoid of "hard proof" and cited academic sources, it's no wonder that this book has received so much blow-back. However if you're willing to take oral tradition as a "true" source (at least as much so as an article in an academic journal), the book's enjoyable.

If nothing else, Hidden in Plain View got me thinking about how amazing it was that people were able to create these codes/plans, keep them hidden, and use them to escape their captors. Do I believe that the quilts were used to send messages about how to escape and what to do when escaping? I'm not 100% sure, but Tobin and Dobard make a good case for it.

[Lorie]

Unfortunately, books like this are written. I see now how myths and legends are passed down as truth, due to some tall tale being produced as fact. This book is fiction. Numerous historians, in many areas have debunked this book as a nice story, but nothing more. What really ignites my flame is that it is being taught in some schools as fact. If you are interested in what real scholars have to say about this there is more here..
http://www.quiltersmuse.com/an-americ...

It's unfortunate that an amazing part of US history like the underground railroad has to be tarnished with piffle like this. Go elsewhere to get your real history.

[Mel · Rating 1 out of 5]

information given is half truths and misleading. I do not recommend this book for quilt information or even history of slavery.

[~☆~Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this when I lived in San Angelo and don't remember much about it now. I was glad to see another reader's review as I could not even recall the title. My mother loved quilts and so now I do also.

[Kristi Thielen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tobin and Dobard’s earnestly written book is good, so far as it goes; sentences such as “we think it highly likely,” and “could it be,” and “it’s possible that,” occur with frequency. Because the fact is, nothing is positively known about whether quilts or specific quilt patterns had significance for enslaved people escaping to the north. Or if the patterns used then, and often replicated today by African Americans, harken back to a more distant past in Africa.

The story of Ozella McDaniel Williams, a Black woman and quilt maker of Charleston, South Carolina, is woven through many chapters, as this woman’s “Quilt Code,” may reflect a code used during the days of slavery. But Ozella is frequently opaque in what she has to relate, and the author’s conversations with her seem more about mysticism than history.

To be fair: the reader is told many times that what is being related isn’t firmly established.

And the hideousness of slavery is to blame for the lack of a throughline in Black history about centuries of slavery in America. There can be no quibbling about that.

So. This makes for interesting reading, especially if you are a quilter yourself. Just be advised that the scholarship here is heavy on charm and hope and wistfulness . . . and light on fact.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my work as a writer at the Missouri History Museum, I have to look at a lot of books (is this a cool job or what??). But merely seeking references and specific pieces of information, I seldom read one all the way through. I made an exception for Hidden in Plain View and was pleased that I did.

Anyway, this short story of the writer's education into the deeper meaning and hidden history of African American quilting and other codes is fascinating. The writers leave many open questions, understandably since the messages about the Underground Railroad had to remain arcane if not top secret to be effective. Still they may be stretching a point or two or more. Those who know for sure are long gone and have kept their pledge to their enslaved brothers and sisters.

[Cici]

One year later and I’m finally done… I really appreciated learning about quilts as devices to pass along encoded messages and directions about the path to freedom for enslaved people along the Underground Railroad. Some
points felt a bit repetitive and although this book was framed as raising questions about quilt codes rather than providing answers, I felt the tone could be a bit too noncommittal. Overall though I’m grateful that this research was pursued and shared!

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm currently reading this for something I'm working on. However, it's amazing how so many people can actually believe this existed. It's also amazing how many read this book, and then still believe this can happen. With words of wisdom such as, "follow the bear tracks they will lead you to safety", or "head north" the author's seem to assume that slaves were completely lacking in any knowledge whatsoever. The fact that one of them, is in fact an African-American Fine Arts Professor at Howard University is mind-blowing. Seeing as how there is no circumstantial fact to back up any of the facts, it's hard to believe so many people fall for this on a daily basis. Also, if you check the citation, many of their facts come from children's books. Lastly, the connections it makes to past African traditions, and Masonic symbols is misleading and confusing at best.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this book and the authors' theories about clues given in slave quilts. They are working at a disadvantage at many reject their claims as they lack written corroboration. They explain the oral tradition and why written proof is highly unlikely from a population forbidden by law from reading or writing.

If you are interested in quilts or slaves, this is a great book for you.

[Rebecca Loomis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a fascinating concept, however just a warning that it was written from a research standpoint and I felt could have used a lot more feeling for such an intense subject. Lots of references in the text, it almost read like a history text book.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing read. The two authors swapped chapters which led to repetition. More interesting than the quilts as guideposts, were the spirituals as guideposts. More conjecture than expected and too often asked for my opinion. I’m not the authority so don’t have an opinion. I wanted to learn

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There 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. Once they got to the crossroads they dug a log cabin on the ground. Shoofly told them to dress up in cotton and satin bow ties and go to the cathedral church, get married and exchange double wedding rings. Flying geese stay on the drunkard's path and follow the "

That is the story that Ozella McDaniel Williams told one of the authors. The bold terms are quilting patterns that can be traced back to the Civil War and before. A quilt made with those patterns are not only giving clues to escaping slaves on the way to freedom but in turn, as quilts were displayed, being aired over a porch railing, they were also informing the escapees if this was a safe place or if there was danger about and to move on.

Tobin and Raymond Dobard - a renowned author and expert on how African American encoded quilts - worked at translating what Ms. Williams taught. The history as well as including how various signals - the rhythm of a blacksmith's hammer bringing back the drum communications of their homelands. The spirituals that gave even more directions - cities like Cleveland, Ohio which was referred to as 'hope' in a song and others.

Admittedly, few of the quilts and quilt tops from that time period are long discarded. Families today don't understand the attraction of the 'old and raggedy' pieces nor the history that they represent. It is a similar situation with the oral tradition tied to the spirituals - stanzas and verses have become lost as those that knew them are unable to pass their knowledge to the next generations.

An amazing piece to read. I was aware of the quilts on the porches being clues to escaping slaves but the details and instructions that could be sewn into every quilt is simply awe-inspiring.

2022-046

[Audra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an enlightening book about quilting and how it was used during slavery to help enslaved Africans escape to freedom. Not only does it talk about the names and histories of the quilting blocks, but it also talks extensively about the Underground Railroad and how it was not only limited to land, but train and sea as well.

It lays plain the debate surrounding quilts and whether or not they were actually used during the Underground Railroad and provides overwhelming evidence that they, indeed, were. There is also a wonderful timeline at the back of the book detailing when slavery began and the events involved in its evolution and, hundreds of years later, its demanteling.

A very, very informative read.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating stories of the use of quilts, and other non-verbal symbols, to guide slaves to the north, to freedom. Many of the common quilt patterns, used today, have a history of being “maps” guiding folks to freedom. Loved the symbolism! Gives making quilts more meaningful! After reading some of the reviews, I will add that I read this as a quilter, not a historian. There is quite a bit of conjecture as to the meaning of the pattens. That didn’t diminish the value of the book, for me!!

[Christina C · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has pieced quilts since childhood but never really looked into the history of quilt making I found this a fascinating read. It was a great introduction to African American quilt history as well as the history of the underground railroad. It piqued my curiosity about both.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not at all what I was expecting. Don't waste your time.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

People have probably heard that quilts were part of helping slaves on the Underground Railroad. This book tries to substantiate that. It's hard to do, because the actual quilts that were used are probably fallen apart and thrown out by now, and because by nature the Underground Railroad was made up of secrets, so there's very few ways to substantiate secrets. But one of the authors speaks to a woman in Charleston, S. Carolina who has kept the verbal history, passed down from her mother and grand-mother, alive, and she passes it on to this author. Which quilts were used for which signals is fascinating to me. It even got down to how the quilts were "quilted" meaning how the three layers were brought together to create one blanket. European-American tradition has it that the hand-sewing, with the little tiny stitches, is the way to go, and "tying," which is to say, passing a thread through the three layers and tying a knot, and doing that at intervals through the quilt - was, and still is, looked down upon. However, the slaves would put messages into the tying. One knot meant one thing, two knots another thing, and three knots yet another. This is something that would go right over the heads of the slave owners, but to a slave who was filled in, it would hold great meaning. They also tied the knots at intervals (on the quilt), and the authors think those were mileage markers.
So if a quilt with a certain pattern was laid out, seemingly casually, to dry in the sun, hanging from a window, it would really be sending a message.
One quilt pattern would mean, "gather your supplies. Get ready." Another would mean, "now's the time. Go." And then on the journey, another would mean, follow this trail, or some such.
They also had a chapter on Negro spirituals and how the singing of them sent messages.
All wonderful stuff for us to know - that the slaves who were brutally brought over here and treated horribly and inhumanely, - fought in every way they could to survive.
Another book that I got out of the library on the same day, "quilting for Dummies" - has no knowledge of this important history, when it talks about how the quilt blocks got their names.

[Susan Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Jacqueline Tobin visited Charleston, SC, she met Ozella McDaniels Williams at the market. Ozella was selling quilts and began to talk to her about the use of quits and their secret language during slavery. Jacqueline was not paying much attention, but when she got home and began to think about it, she called her using the business card from the quilt she bought. Ozella told her she would get the story when Jacqueline was ready to hear it. So Jackqueline began doing research on slave quilts. When she went back to Ozella, she visited her for 3 hours in the marketplace where Ozella told her some of the hidden language in the quits - how different quilting designs meant different things for slaves escaping. The quilts were often aired in windows or on clotheslines and when certain designs were hung, accompanied by a spiritual, they were messages to other slaves about escaping. At least, to those who could be trusted and knew how to read the signs. Jacueline and Raymond Dobard did further research into symbols and travel on the underground railroad. Ms Williams had told her there were 10 quilt designs and each was displayed in turn.
They discovered that some quilts were a sign of a safe house - the log cabin - along the route and others warned of danger or to take a different route. The also covered some of the fascinating history of the underground railroad.

Quite an interesting book and very thought-provoking.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok, I am redoing this review. There were things that disappointed me in this book. It seemed like there was a lot of conjecture. As I told a friend who asked me about the book it also reminded me of "Mutant Message Down Under" where some foreign white lady is given all the mystical secrets of aborigine society. I just wanted to ask, "What makes you so special that they pass this information to you but not their own children?" Because I felt not entirely able to back up my criticisms I didn't want to put out a really negative review. However, I have since come across the opinions of some folks much more knowledgeable than I am. The link below provides and interview between quilt historian Kimberly Wulfert, PhD. and African-American historian Giles Wright. Their critique addresses specific weaknesses in Tobin's book far better than I could.

www.antiquequiltdating.com/ugrrwright...

[Helena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is informative,interesting all the way through, and a smooth read. Learn about the secrets stitched and knotted into these quilts, and the traditions that inspired this method of communication or the West African textiles that preceded them - this is an important book about an overlooked subject in American history, as well as textile arts.

Ms. Tobin provides solid 3rd party documentation, references and citations to support her efforts, valuable for any of us interested in studying this topic in more detail.

I didn't know much about the quilts other than they were used to signal whether a location was safe to stop at, or should be passed by. There's so much more to this story, and the Underground Railroad.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good beginner's book for the meaning of quilts and codes used in the Underground Railroad.
I expected more about the meaning of quilt symbols and there was some repetition. The book includes pictures of the quilts described and a glossary of designs.
It was more informative on the codes of the Underground Railroad and how spirituals were used to guide slaves from the south through Ohio to Canada.
This book made me want to read more and learn more about quilt codes and Underground Railroad codes in general.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a quilter or like reading history you will find this book very interesting.
A lot of care and research went into compiling the information about the quilts used to help the slaves escape. Some of the information about the quilts is pure speculation because history has been either lost and miss translated. Overall the history found through oral and written about the quilts do give a clear view of the determination of helping slaves escape their fate. I highly recommend this book.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea

The topic / concept seem fascinating. I wanted to be transported...However this is a very dry; academic journey into what should have been storytelling. In fact, she kept telling us how amazing it was to hear the story.. the she stripped it down to a Wikipedia entry. Cannot recommend.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

During the 1930's, an act of oral historiography was undertaken in which a variety of researchers were sent out to preserve the vulnerable and threatened knowledge and culture of illiterate African Americans whose history and culture had not previously entered into the American record to a great degree. To be sure, minstrel shows and stories about blacks had been relatively well known (and some of these, like the Uncle Remus stories and Gone With The Wind, remain popular), but accounts of blacks talking about their own experiences were not well known and it was thought worthwhile to record these for analysis. As is the case with all such accounts, there is a certain amount of concern that one has about the trustworthiness of such accounts, all the more so because these accounts were transcribed by (mostly white) interlocutors who may or may not have written down what they heard in a trustworthy manner. Even so, those who wish to understand slavery from the point of view of those who had been enslaved have few other alternatives other than to examine accounts such as this because of their documentary value, even with the concerns about the accuracy of the accounts, and what we have here is a rather fascinating work about how slavery was remembered by elderly former slaves, most of whom remained in situ in the South up to the 1930's when they were interviewed.

This book is almost 350 pages long and it is divided into five chapters as well as containing two appendices. The book begins with a foreword and a preface that discuss the sources and their limitations, as well as an introduction that discusses slavery in memory and history and some information about the editorial method used in the work. After that there are a lot of accounts with a certain amount of editorializing by the people responsible for creating this compilation. The first chapter examines accounts that deal with the troubled relationship between slaves and owners in dealing with the faces of power (1). After that comes a discussion of work and the slave life, sometimes explicitly compared with the different work life experienced under freedom (2). There are plenty of accounts that discuss the relationship between family members (3), some of which give poignant reminders of how fathers would suffer punishments in order to visit their children on neighboring plantations in order to show their love to them. There are accounts of slave culture, including religion, dancing, and music (4). Also, there are accounts that discuss the Civil War and the coming of freedom and what this meant to the slaves (5) who were now freed. There are then appendices that provide the radio documentary "Remembering Slavery," which takes some of these accounts and stitches them together (i), as well as the recordings of slave narratives and related materials in the Library of Congress' Archive of Folk Culture (ii), along with suggestions for further reading, short titles used in the notes, notes, afterword, and index.

How did people remember slavery? The results are somewhat complicated. Even given the vagaries of memory and the reliability of those who took down the transcriptions of those memories, there is a certain tone of gossip that creeps into the memories, as people remembered certain things about their masters and the behavior of their masters and the way in which they learned that it was only save to talk about some things in the fields and not around whites (especially when praising Abraham Lincoln to rebellious slaveowners). One former slave remarked that his master had been "a sissy" who had no use for bright-skinned blacks, presumably because he suspected them (probably accurately) to be relatives who might request special favors. The complexity of slave favor or the lack thereof based on being part white in the eyes of other slaves or the master or mistress is also deeply interesting and deeply complicated as well, especially since those who came from black elites have often remained part of the black elite to this day. This book, obviously, does not deal with these blacks as elites, but merely looks at them as a historical source to how the slaves themselves felt about slavery, and their nearly uniform hatred of being transported and sold around from owner to owner and place to place.

[MARSHA · Rating 5 out of 5]

HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW A SECRET STORY OF QUILTS and the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD is the title of this book written by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard, Ph.D., the title of my review is: The importance of sewing in the history of Black Americans, also known as African-Americans.
I hesitated reading this book because I wanted to read about quilting done by Black people. The narrative, as it was presented by the authors, wove the history of quilting beginning with how Africans created with textiles before coming to America, how slaves communicated despite not reading or writing and the relationship between quilts and the underground railroad. There are lots of images of quilts in the book but I found myself more interested in the hows and whys of quilts being used in history than I was with the images, I will have to go back in the book and look at the ones I skipped over.
This book presents Black history in a way that I am very much interested in, sometimes I find modern history books angry and hopeless. I know my ancestors came from some country in Africa and they were enslaved unjustly in America. I know that my freed ancestors endured the hardships of working on a sharecropper farm and I also know that they eventually became educated, productive members of society, many of whom are landowners. I don’t want dates and names, I want the stories behind the names with the dates and we get this through Mrs Ozella McDaniel Williams, what the author identifies as a Griot an oral historian but. Mrs Ozella is the catalyzt for the author Jacqueline L Tobin beginning her quest into the story behind the quilts and why she reached out to Dr. Raymond G. Dobard.
This book is not a “How to” make quilts but a “why this pattern” story. That is what I wanted to know and that is what I learned; the quilting blocks of the underground railroad and their history.
HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW A SECRET STORY OF QUILTS and the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD is 179 pages not including: the Historical Time; Ozella”s Underground Railroad Quilt Code Patterns; and Chart Comparing African symbols with American Quilt Patterns, like the “double wedding ring, and Masonic Emblems. This book is an excellent resource for those interested in the history of the art of quilting. Of course I recommend it, to everyone.

Written by Marsha L Floyd
I purchased this book and have not been compensated for it.

[Berni Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trying to keep up with Black History month, I thought I'd try this. (I'm alternating heavy and light in my reading.) This was interesting but it needed some editing. It had a lot of repetition in it. It also kept referring to color illustrations and there were no color illustrations. Perhaps they're in the hard copy editions, but there sure were none for the ebook. This is a big flaw in a book about textiles. The gray scale images were often poor as well.

Other than that, I learned some things. Traditional quilt patterns such as monkey's paw, flight of geese, log cabin, etc. were used as signals for the Underground Railroad. A particular quilt would be "airing" outside, inconspicuously, and the quilt pattern would be a clue: gather your things so you can run, wait, or whatever. The stitching in the quilts were sometimes maps as well.

Spirituals were also used by the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman loved to sing and wrote some spirituals. She sang all the time, and her choice of song was a signal. One song, if she sang it all the way through twice, meant it was safe to come out and she could help them get to where they needed to go next. But if she sang, "Go Down, Moses," that meant that it was dangerous and they should remain hidden.

So the basic information was fascinating but it could have been presented better.