a  listmember wrote:
>a quiltwork done by homes using the Underground
> Railroad. On these quilts the wners placed maps so these slaves could
travel
> safely from house to house as well as other important information they
made
> need>

This, unfortunately, is a widely held misperception, based on a book that
has been widely challenged and discredited by quilt historians, women's
historians, and historians of the underground railroad - even while it has
been enthusiastically embraced by the media, the public, and writers of
school curricula. There is no credible evidence that quilts were used as any
kind of signalling or pathmarking system during the years of the underground
railroad, and much practical and logical evidence against this idea, despite
the fact that we all want to believe this kind of story about human
ingenuity overcoming the horrors of oppression. For the debate, you can
search the archives of H-QUILT, the mailing list for quilt scholars (which
the posting was originally forwarded from). H-QUILT is at
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~quilt/, search keywords "underground railroad" or
"hidden in plain view" (the book's name).

Carol Ely
Museum Consultant
Louisville

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