Underground Railroad Quilt Collection 2011

Access and use

Location of collection:
Thomas Balch Library
Thomas Balch Library
208 West Market Street
Leesburg, Virginia 20176
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Alexandra S. Gressitt
Phone: (703) 737-7195
Fax: (703) 737-7195

Summary

Creator:
Debra Pettit, Leesburg, VA
Abstract:
This collection consists of one 36 x 36 inch, sixteen panel quilt created by Debra Pettit of Leesburg, VA in 2011. It also contains three folders of related information, including an explanation of the history and symbolism of quilts in the iconography of the Underground Railroad; a copy of an explanatory panel from the quilt; and photographs of the ceremony during which the quilt was presented to the Thomas Balch Library in 2011. Fifteen of the panels depict quilt patterns used to communicate messages along different points of the journey north to freedom; the sixteenth panel provides a textual explanation of each pattern.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of one 36 x 36 inch, sixteen panel quilt created by Debra Pettit of Leesburg, VA in 2011. It also contains three folders of related information, including an explanation of the history and symbolism of quilts in the iconography of the Underground Railroad; a copy of an explanatory panel from the quilt; and photographs of the ceremony during which the quilt was presented to the Thomas Balch Library in 2011. Fifteen of the panels depict quilt patterns used to communicate messages along different points of the journey north to freedom; the sixteenth panel provides a textual explanation of each pattern.

Biographical / historical:

A symbolic term for numerous routes used to escape slavery during the first half of the 19th Century, the Underground Railroad was a clandestine network of safe places and willing participants who aided with the dangerous journey to freedom. "Conductors" or guides led escaping slaves between places of refuge, also known as "stations." Often, those seeking freedom were required to make portions of the journey unaccompanied. Adding to the danger faced by all involved were the Fugitive Slave Acts, originally passed in 1790's and expanded throughout the first fifty years of the 19th century that enabled the capture and re-enslavement of fugitives in the North, and later, the punishment of any assisting slaves in attempted escape. To communicate necessary instructions and aid in maintaining the safety of the network, a number of systems of codes and symbols were created and used to identify places of safety and point out the right path to travelers.

One system, passed down through oral tradition, was the use of quilt patterns to provide directions and to issue important advice to escaping slaves. Due to a long quilting tradition among enslaved and free African Americans, quilts for personal and family use were already a medium for artistic expression and the communication of tradition, and were easily adapted for the transmission of symbols or mathematical codes. Although the ephemeral nature of quilts and the difficulty of locating and identifying quilts made by slaves for personal use make documentation difficult, some oral tradition and existing examples of quilts used along the Underground Railroad survive into the present. First discussed in-depth by historians Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard in their 1999 work Hidden in Plain View: the Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad, the extent and use of specific patterns remains controversial due to the scarcity of documentation.

The patterns included in The Underground Railroad Quilt created by Debra Pettit in 2011 collected here, depict those passed down via oral tradition to Charleston, South Carolina quilt maker Ozella McDaniel Williams (1922 - 1998) and recorded by Tobin and Dobard in the mid-1990s. Recording one set of symbols in the order they may have been used, the explanation of the traditional meaning of each symbol also documents the thought processes and experiences of the Underground Railroad as escaping slaves may have encountered them along the journey to freedom.

Acquisition information:
Debra Pettit, Leesburg, VA
Arrangement:

Box: Folder