As a hobby, quilting is often about remembering loved ones. Today almost a million Americans make some kind of quilt, including replica Revolutionary War quilts, and, increasingly Underground Railroad Quilts. One of those was on display at QuiltCon in Raleigh, N.C. The annual conference is held by the Modern Quilt Guild and this year drew 12,000 visitors.
Quilter Cyntia Kelly’s “Recalling Slavery Days” was on display at the booth run by the African American Quilt Circle of Durham. “A lot of these blocks were from the Underground Railroad quilt, and she just put her own colors and her own spin on the blocks,” explained Quilt Circle President Melanie Dantzler.
Some blocks have been in use for centuries. Dantzler pointed out a couple of traditional blocks incorporated into this quilt, including Jacob’s Ladder and Flying Geese.
The Underground Railroad quilt is a story about a set of quilt blocks that could have helped enslaved people escape during slavery. The idea took off 25 years ago with the book, ” Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad ,” by Jacqueline Tobin and Raymond Dobard, a journalist and art historian duo.