Reviews
Amazon.com
When quiltmaker Ozella McDaniel's told Jacqueline Tobin of
the Underground Railroad Quilt Code, it sparked Tobin to place
the tale within the history of the Underground Railroad.
Hidden
in Plain View documents Tobin and Raymond Dobard's journey
of discovery, linking Ozella's stories to other forms of hidden
communication from history books, codes, and songs. Each quilt,
which could be laid out to air without arousing suspicion, gave
slaves directions for their escape. Ozella tells Tobin how quilt
patterns like the wagon wheel, log cabin, and shoofly signaled
slaves how and when to prepare for their journey. Stitching and
knots created maps, showing slaves the way to safety.
The authors construct history around Ozella's story,
finding evidence in cultural artifacts like slave narratives,
folk songs, spirituals, documented slave codes, and
children's' stories. Tobin and Dobard write that "from
the time of slavery until today, secrecy was one way the black
community could protect itself. If the white man didn't know
what was going on, he couldn't seek reprisals." Hidden
in Plain View is a multilayered and unique piece of
scholarship, oral history, and cultural exploration that
reveals slaves as deliberate agents in their own quest for
freedom even as it shows that history can sometimes be found
where you least expect it. --Amy Wan
The New York Times
Book Review, Andrea Higbie
Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard present the
fascinating theory that slaves created quilts coded with
patterns to help one another flee to freedom.
Book Description
"There are five square knots on the quilt every two
inches apart. They escaped on the fifth knot on the tenth
pattern and went to Ontario, Canada. The monkey wrench turns
the wagon wheel toward Canada on a bear's paw trail to the
crossroads--"
And so begins the fascinating story that was passed down
from generation to generation in the family of Ozella McDaniel
Williams. But what appears to be a simple story that was
handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter is actually
much, much more than that. In fact, it is a coded message
steeped in African textile traditions that provides a link
between slave-made quilts and the Underground Railroad.
In 1993, author Jacqueline Tobin visited the Old Market
Building in the historic district of Charleston, South
Carolina, where local craftspeople sell their wares. Amid
piles of beautiful handmade quilts, Tobin met African American
quilter Ozella Williams and the two struck up a conversation.
With the admonition to "write this down," Williams
began to tell a fascinating story that had been handed down
from her mother and grandmother before her.
As Tobin sat in rapt attention, Williams began to describe
how slaves made coded quilts and then used them to navigate
their escape on the Underground Railroad. But just as quickly
as she started, Williams stopped, informing Tobin that she
would learn the rest when she was "ready."
During the three years it took for Williams's narrative to
unfold--and as the friendship and trust between the two women
grew--Tobin enlisted Raymond Dobard, Ph.D., an art history
professor and well-known African American quilter, to help
provide the historical context behind what Williams was
describing.
Now, based on Williams's story and their own research, Tobin
and Dobard, in what they call "Ozella's Underground
Railroad Quilt Code," offer proof that some slaves were
involved in a sophisticated network that melded African
textile traditions with American quilt practices and created a
potent result: African American quilts with patterns that
conveyed messages that were, in fact, essential tools for
escape along the Underground Railroad.
Synopsis
For the first time, the secret codes used in slave quilt
patterns that served as maps to escape on the Underground
Railroad are revealed--suggesting that there was an organized
African-American resistance movement that predated the
Abolitionist crusade. Color photos.
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Customer
Comments
Average
Customer Review: 
Number of
Reviews: 10
dwillautho@aol.com from Oakland, CA , August 15, 1999
A great resource tool of the Underground Railroad
I first learned of this book on Ophrah and ordered it the
next day before it was released. I presented it to my mother
who has a quilting bee at our church. She was thrilled with
the book and we made two presentations for Black History
Month. The information was an eye opener and just confirmed
what we already knew. We are a strong, beautiful intelligent
people descended from survivors of slavery. Imagine using
codes and patterns to lead a people through the Underground
Railroad and unto Canada and freedom. My sister and I are
taking up quilting to keep the tradition alive.
A reader
from Seattle, WA , June 2, 1999
Excellent oral history
Really good account of an oral history story. True, there
aren't many concrete facts in this book, but not many concrete
facts exist about women's day-to-day history, day-to-day
African American slave history, and slave involvement in the
Freedom Train. This book presents what has traditionally been
an oral history story and "passes it on" to a wider
audience. I thank the authors and Ozella McDaniel for letting
me share in their community.
bsquilts@usit.net from Tennessee, USA , May 15, 1999
Very, good! Pleased to read more on this subject.
I have read of hints of this in other books and was pleased
to read a book on the subject. I'm sure there will be those
that do not think there is enough proof of the story, but it
is like the American Indian it was handed down by word of
mouth. I would love to have some of these quilts for our
annual quilt show, I have some of the patterns but they were
not made by the African Americans.
A reader
from Nebraska--please respond to me. , March 29, 1999
Tobin has crossed the bridge between the races.
Why is Amazon including Benberry as an author of this book?
There is a grammatical error at the top of your review..."McDaniel's"
doesn't require the apostrophe or the s...simply McDaniel will
do.
A reader
from Saint Paul, MN , March 21, 1999
Good Story But Needs More
The authors have a good command of "art speak" and
that allows them to present their evidence in a very readable
and convicing manner.
To complete this book and make a stronger case I hope the
authors follow up with another book that uses more oral
history or traditional historical documentation of those who
escaped from the South and made it to either the North or
Canada. THAT WOULD BE A GREAT STORY!
My hope is that those with stories of escape and courage
will now share the tales with the world!
firstbrew@earthlink.net from Simi Valley CA. , March 4, 1999
Absolutely an outstanding book.
I have always been a student of history and considered myself
fairly well informed. I am also a musician and thought I knew
something about spirituals. This book destroyed both beliefs.
I will never view a quilt or hear a spiritual again without
new found knowledge.
A reader
from New York , February 3, 1999
Let's get the facts straight
If you're interested in how human beings survive and thrive
under adverse circumstances and are specifically interested in
the reliance and resourcefulness of the bearers of African
culture, you'll enjoy this book. I feel someone should respond
to the profoundly inaccurate characterzations of this book by
"danael@earthlink.net from California" and to a
lesser degree "A reader from Oregon." Contrary to
claims by Danael, NOWHERE in the book do the authors "attempt
to usurp the origin of quilting patterns and assign them to
another group." In fact, early on they state very clearly
that the tradition of quilting they describe is "a
cultural hybrid, mixing African encoding traditions with
American quilt patterning conventions..." Another blatant
inaccuracy is the statement that no original African-American
quilts appear in the book. This is simply not true. The book
contains color reproductions of African, traditional
African-American, and contemporary African-American quilts,
including a quilt belonging to Frederick Douglass. As for the
Oregon reader's statement that "title is a misnomer as to
total content" this is also not factual. The book's title
"Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the
Undeground Railroad" is a very precise and complete
description of the book's contents. Another statment by the
same reviewer is so inaccurate as to be bizarre: "The
amount of information contained about quilts and patterns and
their meanings could be explained in a 1-2 page article."
The origins and possible meanings of over ten patterns are
discussed, each pattern requiring several pages worth of
exposition. I hope that no one is discouraged from reading
this remarkable book by reviews that fail the test of basic
accuracy. This book is worthy of attention and study.
GaryL@TroyBiosciences.com from Scottsdale, Arizona , January
27, 1999
Fascinating subject - Presented well by the authors
In USA Today, I read the history of Ms. Tobin's involvement
in the subject. It is truly a fascinating subject and just
scratches the surface as to what other "hidden languages"
have been utilized by downtrodden people. The co-authors
present their case extremely well and show how the slaves
utilized the hidden messages on the quilts to effect their
escape from bondage. I recommend the book to anyone interested
in the concept of people's refusal to give up without a fight.
It's a most uplifting story and truly amazing that 1) it never
had been widely discussed before and 2) that it finally did
come out. 5 stars!
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