Lesson Title: Communication: The Power to Free - Quilts

 

By: Angela Choberka, Teacher Consultant, Wasatch Range Writers project

 

Burning Question: How can I help students understand the communication techniques used in creating/reading quilts during the time of the Underground Railroad? Can discussing the symbology and creating their own quilt squares help students to understand why this form of communication may have been used effectively in this particular context?

 

Objectives:

·         Students will identify and analyze symbols and metaphoric language used in a folk tale/song.

·         Students will evaluate differing meanings of shapes, colors and symbols used in quilt making.

·         Students will design their own quilt square and write about its meaning.

 

Context: K-6 (Options are given that can be used for a variety of students depending on ability, age, materials and resources available, time constraints and the teacher’s desired immersion in the subject matter. There are so many wonderful resources online and in texts that this topic could be delved into quite deeply depending on the teacher’s/student’s desire to do so.)

 

Materials:

·         Winter, Jeanette. Follow the Drinking Gourd. New York: Dragonfly Books. 1988.

·         Images of fugitive slaves (select based on age appropriateness)

·         Images of quilts/quilt squares

·         Black line masters of quilt square blanks and stencils from story attached

·         Colored paper/crayons/markers/fabric -depending on materials you have easily available

·         Glue

·         Scissors

·         Pencils

 

Time Span: 2-3 hours

 

Procedures:

1.      Read Follow the Drinking Gourd as described in introductory lesson.

2.      Tell the story of how some people believe that quilts were made in order to communicate messages about the Underground Railroad much like verses of “Follow the Drinking Gourd.”

3.      Show some examples of types of communication in quilts. You could create some actual examples from web sources or show students symbols by drawing them on the board/overhead. They could also be shown through looking at examples online.

4.      Depending on the ages and abilities of students the following suggestions may be used in order for the students to design and create their own quilt squares:

·         Students could cut or use precut pieces of colored paper (or color with pencils, markers, or crayons) to create a quilt square. The shapes could be geometric shapes-- triangles, squares, rectangles, etc. -- or could be improvised by students. They could paste their square onto a larger class quilt. Students could follow this up by either dictating to the teacher so she/he could write the explanation of the symbols or older students could write their own paragraphs describing the symbols they used in their quilt block. Some examples of these kinds of quilt squares are: http://www.beavton.k12.or.us/greenway/leahy/ugrr/index.htm.

·         Students could work on quilt blocks as a segment of story which has been read aloud in class and then assigned to them randomly. Students could also work in small groups.

·         Students could complete the online interactive version available at: http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/secret_quilt.cfm and then print out their pieces.

5.      Display the students’ work either as a complete quilt hung together or in some fashion so everyone is able to appreciate the work.

6.      Facilitate a discussion with the group once the work is displayed regarding the messages students chose to create and how they have gone about doing so. Ask questions like: What does that color mean to you? Which square seems have a clear message and how does it work? What do the squares say to you? Each student could tell the group about their own square and talk about the designing process.

 

Adaptations/Extensions:

·         Students could use cartography skills to create maps either real or imagined.

·         Students could actually design and then sew a quilt.

 

Rationale:

            Through exploring the type of communication a quilt may have been used for during the times of slavery in the U.S., I hope to help students create a context for this form by learning to read the symbols and creating their own thoughtfully. The picture book describing the song that slaves may have sung to find their way is one example of the secretive forms of communication used, so I hope that this can translate to a similar secretive form like the quilts. Through this exploration I hope the students will also make a connection to the various forms of communication that are available to them in their own lives in their own particular situations in life.

            Because the subject matter is to be dealt with in a sensitive manner and the students reactions may vary, I hope that the lesson will lend to much discussion and contemplation. Creating the quilt squares can be a more accessible way to deal with these issues. Beginning with a student led discussion and following up with writing about and discussing the square as a group is an attempt to let the students deal with the material on their own terms rather than having too much and too mature content delivered at a particular time and place. Hopefully, we can let the audience dictate the terms of this lesson rather than feeding too much excess and unnecessary content for the younger audience. While at the same time some younger students may have some experiences that we must be sensitive to that may relate closely to the family’s experience in the story. I would just advise the teacher to know the students well before giving this lesson even though it is a picture book story. It does deal with a serious and horrendous part of our country’s history that may scare and/or intrigue the group.

             

Resources:

·         Winter, Jeanette. Follow the Drinking Gourd. New York: Dragonfly Books, 1988.

·         Owen’s Sound on the Canada-United States border was the northern terminus of the Underground Railroad. Many escaped slaves remained in the town (now called Sydenham).  The city has created a web page commemorating that history which includes a section on “The Underground Railroad Quilt Code” http://www.osblackhistory.com/quilts.php.

·         National Geographic has a lesson plan “Quilting: The Story of the Underground Railroad,”  http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/17/g35/quilts.html.

·         From Quilt History: “Putting it in Perspective: The Symbolism of Underground Railroad Quilts,” by Kris Drieseen: http://www.quilthistory.com/ugrrquilts.htm.

·         An example of an elementary class which created a quilt is David Leahy. Our Virtual Underground Railroad Quilt, Greenway Elementary School, 1999: http://www.beavton.k12.or.us/greenway/leahy/ugrr/.

·         Hart Cottage Quilts has an extensive web site critiquing the Underground Quilt Code: http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/.

·         Maryland Public Television has a web site Pathways to Freedom: Maryland and the Underground Railroad which includes instructions for making a quilt message: http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/secret_quilt.cfm.

·         From the Network for Instructional Television is a lesson plan:”Signs in Stitches and Song”  http://www.teachersfirst.com/share/ugrr/index.html.

·         David Chasin  and Carlo Rodes have created a web site All Aboard the UGRR which includes patterns for quilt codes: http://sheetmusic.berkeley.edu/courses/is182/papers/UGG/Quilt%20Codes.htm.

·         There are a number of other picture books based on Underground Railroad quilts:

o   Hopkinson, Deborah. Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, 1995. Also: Under Quilt of Night, 2005.

o   Ringgold, Faith. Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky,1995

o   Stroud, Bettye.  The  Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom, 2007.