Speaker to discuss Underground Railroad 'quilt code'

How does a myth find its way into fact in school curriculum on the Underground Railroad? And how did quilts become involved in the "fabrication" of such myths?

On March 22 a visiting fellow to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's International Quilt Study Center will present "The Underground Railroad Quilt Controversy: Looking for the 'Truth.'" Laurel Horton, a folklorist and nationally known quilt researcher, will present a public lecture at 9 a.m. in Room 31 of the Home Economics Building, 35th Street north of East Campus Loop. She will follow the threads of stories of a "quilt code" supposedly used by slaves fleeing the south in the early 19th century.

Along with many other myths involving quilts, the "quilt code" materialized in the 1980s during the post-Bicentennial revival of folk art. The earliest mention of a "quilt code" is a brief statement in a 1987 video saying quilts were hung outside Underground Railroad safe houses. A popular children's book, "Sweet Clara," romanticized a quilt-making heroine making her escape from slavery. Not long after, the book "Hidden In Plain View" was published. It was promoted by Oprah Winfrey and quilt shop owners, "code" quilt kits were marketed to the multibillion-dollar quilters market, and antique dealers used the "code" as a marketing tool.

Scholars have since pointed out numerous discrepancies between the "code" and documented Underground Railroad history, and some early supporters of the story have begun to distance themselves from the myth. Horton will discuss the phenomenon and provide context that will help separate fact from fiction.

Horton has worked with numerous museums and libraries to research and interpret information on material culture: the physical or tangible creations that members of a society make, use and share. She will study mosaic quilts from the collection of the International Quilt Study Center. For more information, visit the center's Web site, http://quiltstudy.unl.edu, or call (402) 472-6549.

CONTACT: Maureen Ose, Communications Coordinator, International Quilt Study Center, (402) 472-7273