Post by Zadkiel on Jun 25, 2016 12:13:12 GMT
According to this myth, African-American quilts were really secret codes meant to guide escaping slaves through the Underground Railroad.
But the quilt code is a rather modern myth, created in the last 20 years. It is not true and everyone should know that. The slaves used their great intelligence and took great risks to flee; and they used networks of people that were willing to help. Some people did not get any help; they just ran away and got to freedom on their own.
This persistent fairy tale is, however, too profitable to kill off. It has spawned several children’s books, a money-making lecture circuit, sales of quilt-code designs to quilt makers and sales of quilts to tourists. It is even - horror of horrors - morphing into other cultures. Someone has claimed that Native Americans made coded quilts, another that German Jews made coded quilts to warn others about Nazis. All such stories have been debunked by reputable experts that have, on occasion, been accused of racism when they dared to point out the fallacies.
Here is a typical example of how this disinformation is being spread:
But the quilt code is a rather modern myth, created in the last 20 years. It is not true and everyone should know that. The slaves used their great intelligence and took great risks to flee; and they used networks of people that were willing to help. Some people did not get any help; they just ran away and got to freedom on their own.
This persistent fairy tale is, however, too profitable to kill off. It has spawned several children’s books, a money-making lecture circuit, sales of quilt-code designs to quilt makers and sales of quilts to tourists. It is even - horror of horrors - morphing into other cultures. Someone has claimed that Native Americans made coded quilts, another that German Jews made coded quilts to warn others about Nazis. All such stories have been debunked by reputable experts that have, on occasion, been accused of racism when they dared to point out the fallacies.
Here is a typical example of how this disinformation is being spread:
