underground railroad quilt
06-06-2010, 11:16 AM
#71
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: dreaming of a simple life. Living off the grid!
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Originally Posted by grammypatty7
Myth or Not??
You know that much of history today is being proclaimed as "never happened, made up, falsified, myth" and that includes the holocaust. Even though there is a lot of documentation in the form of film and photos plus eye witness accounts, there are a lot of people claiming this NEVER happened but our soldiers who went in and rescued these survivors know differently. Many have lost loved ones in our military who went in to do this rescue yet there is a large movement saying "it never happened."
I suspect there is truth to the story. Perhaps the quilts weren't used all over but I believe they were used in enough areas for so many to be believing it even though it's difficult to prove either way today. I've personally met survivors of the holocaust so I do know beyond a doubt it happened. We also know that there was a huge underground railroad system and I lived in an area in IL that had several of the homes that were used. I no long live there so am not in a position to go do some researching but the history in those areas have been well kept, remembered and treasured. There are efforts made to try and preserve those old homes.
Guess we'll each believe what we want to believe and that's ok especially since there appears to be no concrete proof either way but much of history has been handed down by story tellers all through time.
You know that much of history today is being proclaimed as "never happened, made up, falsified, myth" and that includes the holocaust. Even though there is a lot of documentation in the form of film and photos plus eye witness accounts, there are a lot of people claiming this NEVER happened but our soldiers who went in and rescued these survivors know differently. Many have lost loved ones in our military who went in to do this rescue yet there is a large movement saying "it never happened."
I suspect there is truth to the story. Perhaps the quilts weren't used all over but I believe they were used in enough areas for so many to be believing it even though it's difficult to prove either way today. I've personally met survivors of the holocaust so I do know beyond a doubt it happened. We also know that there was a huge underground railroad system and I lived in an area in IL that had several of the homes that were used. I no long live there so am not in a position to go do some researching but the history in those areas have been well kept, remembered and treasured. There are efforts made to try and preserve those old homes.
Guess we'll each believe what we want to believe and that's ok especially since there appears to be no concrete proof either way but much of history has been handed down by story tellers all through time.
I live in Clermont County Ohio which is across the Ohio River from KY. This is where many slaves pass through on their way to freedom. There is a map of the Freedom Trail and homes in my area have markers of being safe houses. Some of these homes have been in families for generations and the stories have been passed down. Freedom quilts were used along with other items to help escaped slaves. One such thing was a lamp in a certain window. There are conductors homes still standing in Batavia to Georgetown to New Richmond Ohio. I live in the middle of the freedon trail and am surrounded by history.
People could believe what they want to believe but there is too much research on my part to know that Underground RR/Freedom quilts were indeed used. If you question the existance of them then prehaps there should be the question of the civil war itself happening or for that matter anything else in history that we were not alive to see for ourself. I have been told my grandfather jumped ship in Canada from Poland to get to the USA, yet I did not witness that however I have to believe what I was told. The same goes for black americans who were told of how their family came to freedom. Many things on wikipedia are not always fact. Research with a google search freedom quilts or underground railroad quilts and there are oral histories on them and what each block meant. I have to believe that there were underground rr/freedom quilts during the mid 1800's how else could one explain that different slaves who could not read followed the same route and ended up in the same homes on their way to freedom. It could not have been my chance.
06-06-2010, 02:20 PM
#72
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: FL/formerly IL
Posts: 699
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Thank you for posting this. My reply was trying to be a carefully worded one to an earlier post. I know what is believed in the area of the country where I grew up and there were stories there of the lanterns and blankets being hung in certain areas and in a certain specific way etc. I'm glad you know of some actual documentation to corroberate this. Thank you for posting. How fascinating this is. I hate when we read where facts in history aren't true or have been falsified. There seems to be a movement a foot today to undo and discredit a lot of our nation's history and that's sad as we do have a very rich history for our young country.
Thank you for posting this. My reply was trying to be a carefully worded one to an earlier post. I know what is believed in the area of the country where I grew up and there were stories there of the lanterns and blankets being hung in certain areas and in a certain specific way etc. I'm glad you know of some actual documentation to corroberate this. Thank you for posting. How fascinating this is. I hate when we read where facts in history aren't true or have been falsified. There seems to be a movement a foot today to undo and discredit a lot of our nation's history and that's sad as we do have a very rich history for our young country.
06-06-2010, 09:05 PM
#73
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Oklahoma city Okla
Posts: 141
Hi i was born in Mississippi in the 40's and some of those block i have witness that life style with my parents and siblings i also made the quilt, it was seven of us who made the quilt and they hung in one of local library for 3 months after bought it home my nephew offer me a nice sum of money & i sold it to him, however i do have a picture of me & my underground r.r quilt. at the time i made it i was very much in need of money so as soon as i get out of the hosp. and get to feeling better i'm going to make another, i will keep this one. i believe her story is true. those was tough times back then. LOL :lol:
06-09-2010, 10:41 AM
#75
Super Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 6,764
Originally Posted by bellegrise
I think there is a book called Hidden in Plain Sight about the Underground Railroad. I will do Eleanor Burns quilt one of these days.
07-30-2016, 07:39 AM
#76
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: St Peters, MO
Posts: 495
I recently posted a pic of the quilt I finished. I used greens, blues, mauves etc. Others I've seen used brighter colors. As far as I know the story is true. If you decide to do the quilt I have a templet of the story(from the book) you can copy and put on inkjet fabric for a block. I loved doing the quilt. Good luck.
07-30-2016, 08:06 AM
#77
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 26,122
I am one of the doubters. The Underground Railroad definitely happened, and there were definitely quilts made during that time in history, but the rest is fairy tale. Think about it... how would you ever get the word out to the escaping slaves or their helpers, of what quilts to look for? How could anyone truly rely on such a system with their lives? It's a nice fairy tale, but a fairy tale nonetheless.
Same for those fisherman's sweaters... the story being that the fishermen knit patterns into their sweaters, designating what towns they came from lest their drowned bodies ever wash ashore in a faraway place. This has been debunked as the invention of companies who wanted to sell their sweater patterns, to create in them more interest and romance.
Same for those fisherman's sweaters... the story being that the fishermen knit patterns into their sweaters, designating what towns they came from lest their drowned bodies ever wash ashore in a faraway place. This has been debunked as the invention of companies who wanted to sell their sweater patterns, to create in them more interest and romance.
07-30-2016, 02:17 PM
#78
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Vermont
Posts: 7,000
Everything I have ever heard or read about the URR, the slaves were carried at night from one "station" to another in wagons or carts. The people who drove them were the "conductors." The idea of slaves wandering around looking for certain quilts on the line is fanciful to say the least. The first mention of URR quilts was in the 1980's. Since people in the Civil War era were prolific diary keepers and letter writers, you would think there would be SOME mention of the quilts within 50 years of the Civil War. So where is it?
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