- Introduction
- The Underground Railroad
- Secret Signals
- The Underground Railroad Quilt Code Patterns
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Slave traders in the 1700s and early 1800s sought out the most skilled, intelligent and healthy people they could find in West and Central Africa. Although they were torn from their communities and forced to work in Caribbean and American homes and farms, enslaved Africans held on to the traditions of African civilization, culture and religion. They brought their talents. And they never lost their desire to be free human beings.
History has recorded some successful uprisings, but most attempts to escape bondage failed. As the economy of the southern United States became increasingly dependent on slavery in the late 1700s and early 1800s, slave-owners tightened their grip. Northern states gradually abolish slavery later, but the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 required states to return slaves to their owners. Slaves would be severely punished for gathering with one another unless supervised by whites. Even drumming was prohibited, because slaveholders suspected drum beats carried information and signals. Simply communicating amongst themselves required slaves to develop a secret language or code. Singing what became known as “spirituals” was part of that language – a language that conveyed information and ideas by using traditional African symbols and images even when veiled by what seemed to be a Christian devotion or prayer.
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