In Search of Canton's Underground Railroad II

The best way to keep a secret is to tell no one. The next best way is to keep the secret in the shadows, release it only to a small, trusted group.

But, when you’re in a secret society, how do you communicate the incommunicable? How do you pursue your critical agenda, when the results of your activities are tantamount to terrorism? How do you persevere when discovery would likely lead to your being beaten, jailed or hung from a tree?

These are the types of considerations that may have been pondered by slaves and abolitionists before and during the Civil War, as they masterminded the Underground Railroad. While the stops along the Underground Railroad stand proudly today, as historic and tourist attractions, there is still considerable question, controversy and folklore about the actual 'how to’ guide that made it all work so brilliantly.

How to? The history of those who were oppressed is often very different than that of those who oppressed. For example, slaves expressed and communicated their views, anger, hopes and pain through song, art, crafts, dance and ultimately  stories and folklore passed down from generation to generation.

“Slaves were not permitted to learn how to read or write,” says Jo Hansling, who will be presenting, “A Tribute to Civil War Quilts,” at the Canton Library on April 9. “The law,” Hansling continued, “made it illegal for anyone to teach them. So, it is within the scope of reason that slaves found an alternate, familiar way to communicate. Especially when the stakes, their freedom, were so high.” So, why not quilts?

Here’s how historians Jacqueline Tobin and Raymond Dobard say it worked: A seamstress on the plantation would make a quilt containing a series of relatively well known, literal African symbols. Another set of quilts were devised that contained each single symbol. These symbols would be used to represent the ready, set and go path to freedom that so many would take.

There was also a sequence, an order, to how the quilts would be displayed, to communicate the appropriate message. The first quilt would likely be designed around the 'wrench' pattern; collect your tools and get ready to go. The second likely symbol, a 'wagon wheel,' was said to instruct the intended reader to pack their belongings for the journey ahead. Along the way, there would be 'bear paws' – directing travelers to follow the animal’s foot prints to water and food to forage; as well as blocks or boxes which indicated sanctuary was nearby.   

There are additional hypotheses about the actual seaming and knotting on the secret quilts, which may have held map routes or other clandestine information of value to runaway slaves.

So, if we are to believe Canton folklore about safe houses, shelters and communities that may have been part of the Underground Railroad, it’s possible that quilts - commonly hung outside, on a fence,  a window sill, or laundry line - could have been part of the link that held these sanctuaries together.

Whether these symbols, patterns and codes were an actual part of the tool kit for escaping slaves, there is no way to know for sure. That’s the thing about secrets; especially the ones that are intended to be difficult to decipher.

Here’s the Deal

Canton Public Library, 40 Dyer Avenue, Canton; (860)693-5800: www.cantonpubliclibrary.org.