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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 th!
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at "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 som
etimes 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 A!
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fric
an 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 Doba!
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rd,
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!
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rea
der 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 !
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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,!
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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 !
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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 specifica
lly 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 !
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read
er'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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