Underground Railroad Code

Underground Railroad quilt code: fact or fiction.  

Presented by quilter, Micki Angyal.

7:00 p.m. The Archives, 178 McKellar Street. Glencoe.    

After the U.S. Congress passed the Compromise of 1850, the law forced free northern states to return escaped slaves.  Conductors like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass led many escapees to Canada. The journey north was not easy. Secrecy was necessary for escape and information could only be passed by word of mouth, using codes, signs and signals created by slaves. One such code was using quilts.  Various blocks in the quilts gave the slaves clues as to where they had to go.

Micki Angyal will select 10 quilt blocks and explain the code and meaning of each pattern.  Join us to learn about the mystery of how quilts may have helped  those travelling North.