Pre-Civil War Quilts: Secret Codes to Freedom on the Underground Railroad

Presented by Carol Stream Public Library, this will be a one-hour multi-media experience including Power Point slide presentation, storytelling, and display of over a dozen beautifully hand-crafted quilt replicas, representing patterns and special stitching used over 300 years ago by abolitionists and fugitive slaves to signify escape routes to the North. It is shown how quilts were used to signal plans, warn of dangers, indicate how transport might occur, or who might help as “Friends” on the Underground Railroad.

Based upon her mother’s book: Lizzie’s Story: A Slave Family’s Journey to Freedom, by Dr. Clarice Boswell, Connie will tell the fascinating family stories of how these quilt codes were kept and used by her ancestors. You will learn the code meanings and interpretations that have been passed down to Connie, a 6th generation descendant of captured African slaves.