February is Black History Month. This year, so far, I have not heard one person try to state once again that the so-called Secret Quilt Code is fact, not the fictional story that it, indeed, is. Has America come to its senses? One can only hope so.
Just as escaping slaves wanted to hop on the bandwagon to be hidden under blankets or whatever and thereby make an escape to “somewhere else,” so have the charlatans grabbed onto this idea of the secret quilt code of the Underground Railroad. It did not matter that it was all a falsehood. After all, it provided a way to “clean up,” for those who found it a way to capitalize on faux history.
Just dupe people into believing that they are acting in a compassionate manner and are oh-so-politically-correct. They will try to purchase just the “right” fabrics to make a “reproduction” of a quilt that never existed, and blocks that were never made for the purposes stated.
I am beginning to think that all that matters in this society is selling items based on false advertising and lies. Of course, it helps if the “big Whigs” endorse the idea.
Today, I had someone tell me that she doesn’t like books or magazines. That statement allowed me to judge the level of her ignorance with a capital “I.” Traditionally, books have been a vehicle of understanding. Take the book, “Our Nig” – yes, there is more information about it on my website, Quilter’s Muse Publications. The book is written by a mulatto woman who was an indentured servant to a well-to-do Milford, NH family who mistreated her. The life she lead was a tragedy, just as Harriet Tubman’s life was because of an injury inflicted upon her when she was hit in the head.
The hardship and suffering of African-Americans is swept under the rug, while their Caucasian counterparts make pretty quilts that have nothing to do with the escapes of Blacks, nor freedom. These same ladies, some of them, have told me that they are doing their part to save history because they love it so. For heaven’s sakes, do they read HISTORY? If they did, they might understand exactly what the “Underground Railroad” was, and if they read all of my MANY articles about why the quilt connection is an impossibility, they would not feel so self-righteous in their false pronouncements.
During Black History Month, if you want to honor African-Americans, please read more about what actually happened to them, and their roots, culture, and history. Putting a quilt together, under false pretenses, is rather silly and just proves that you are a victim of your own ignorance and the blatant capitalism that surrounds this topic. God bless the child who learns to read. A world of knowledge will open unto him. Here is a link to one of the files I wrote:
http://www.quiltersmuse.com/underground_railroad_and_quilts_blocks.htm
This is the book that started the controversy:
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications
All books print out to a page size of 8 1/2″ x 11.”
