Underground Railroad Quilt Club With Barbara Brackman
One of the concerns about the popularity of the Underground Railroad Quilt myth is that it distracts people from the true depth of the struggle to free the slaves. Historian Barbara Brackman has made it a mission of hers to share the true story of slavery and the Underground Railroad and give quilters ways to memorialize this part of our history in their quilts.
Barbara Brackman's Underground Railroad Quilt Club is a new opportunity to learn more about this topic.
Your 12-month membership to the Underground Railroad eClub includes:
Monthly article by Barbara Brackman on the history of American quilts and quilters in the pre-Civil War era. Articles include excerpts from diaries, letters, oral histories, and other original slavery-era source documents
Monthly full-size new pattern for a quilt or block based on patterns from the period
Gallery of antique and contemporary quilts with patterns popular during the period
Antique photographs and images of American life before, during, and after the Civil War
Interactive forum (moderated by Barbara Brackman) where you can see and discuss with other members the latest news on the controversial history of quilts and slavery Links to webpages on Civil War-era quilts and other fascinating online sources .
This 12 segment series costs $19. To sign up go to C&T Publishing's Underground Railroad Quilt Club. From that page you can either join or take advantage of a sneak preview that tells the story of Martha Washington's runaway slave named Ona Judge.
I also recommend the book, Facts and Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery, as you will find quilt blocks that represent different aspects of slavery with their stories. In reading this book you will have a good overview of the slave experience from capture in Africa to emancipation.
