The enslaved African Americans who chose to escape from their bondage often used the designs in quilts to guide them to their freedom north of the Ohio River.  The quilts were displayed in plain sight along the way, allowing those who were familiar with the symbolism to "read" them to give them guidance in their flight.

Subject  United States History
Topic:   Underground Railroad Quilts
Grade Level: Eighth
Student Lesson name and URL:  Quilts as Guides in the Underground Railroad

Eighth Grade
U.S. History: Divergent Paths of American People from 1800 to mid-1800's

Slavery in the South

8.7.2 Identifying  the origins and development of the institution of slavery; its effects of Black Americans and on the region's political, social, religious, economic, and cultural development; and the various attempted strategies to both overturn and preserve it.

8.7.4  Comparing the lives and opportunities of Free-Blacks in the North with free-Blacks in the South.

1. Students will demonstrate familiarity with life on a Southern plantation, with particular emphasis on the tasks and reponsibilities of the slaves, their living conditions, their shared culture, their dance, visual arts and music.

2.  Students will demonstate an understanding of the avenues of escape available to enslaved African Americans.

3.  Students will demonstate an understanding of the use of the quilt as a map and the symbolism in the quilt patterns that were used as a guide on the Underground Railroad.

Students will be doing research on life in the pre-war South.  They will investigate how groups fought to eliminate slavery.  Students will search the Internet to discover information regarding the Underground Railroad.  They will trace the routes and stations that constituted the Underground Railroad and explore how the symbolic patterns used in quilts served as information to guide the fugitive slaves.
 

Introductory Activity

Students will read Section 4 of Chapter 13 of  The American Journey, "The South's People" to gain a background on life in the pre-war South.

Students will read to discover

    1.  how people lived on Southern plantations
    2.  what roles different people played on plantations
    3.  how enslaved African Americans maintatined strong family and cultural ties

Students will find different catagories into which the South's people could be placed 

    1.  plantations owners
    2.  yeomen
    3.  tenant farmers
    4.  rural poor
    5.  enslaved Arican Americans
    6.  free African Americans

Students will read Section 2 of Chapter 14 of the American Journey "The Abolitionists"

Students will read to discover

    1.  how some American, African Americans and whites, fought to eliminate slavery
    2.  why many Southerners and some Northerners feared the end of slavery
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The Underground Railroad was a secret, widespread network of people and places that helped enslaved people reach freedom in the North.  Many conductors of the Underground Railroad, such as Harriet Tubman, used Polaris, the fixed star in the northern sky, to guide them to the north.  To find out more about the Underground Railroad's famous history, students will travel the Internet.

Students will

    1.  use a search engine and type in the phrase "Underground Railroad"
    2.  after typing in the phrase, enter words like the following to focus your search: maps, stations, fugitives, slaves, quilts
    3.  the search engine should provide students with a puzzle of links to follow

Students will

    1.  utilize the Internet to locate sites concerning the Underground Railroad.  Students will list at least three sites.
    2.  locate escape routes and Underground Railroad stations that fugitive slaves used.  The will locate these escape routes and stations on their map
    3.  create a quilt that utilized the symbolic patterns used to guide the fugitives
    4.  explain what the patterns symbolized to the runaway and how information could be placed in plain sight and yet not be recognized and understood by all.

Introductory Activity
List and link the web resources for this activity here. Also link supplementary materials such as PDF files and /or document files.

Enabling Activity
African American History

Culminating Activity
The Walk to Canada---Tracing the Underground Railroad

Buljan Intermediate School
School Location: Roseville
Karen Loullis 
Last Revised:01/20/2000