Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad |  | Authors: Jacqueline L. Tobin, Raymond G. Dobard
Creator: Maude S. Wahlman
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Rating:  63 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st Anchor Books
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0385497679
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.7115
EAN: 9780385497671
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Amazon.com Review
When quiltmaker Ozella McDaniels told Jacqueline Tobin of the Underground Railroad Quilt Code, it sparked Tobin to place the tale within the history of the Underground Railroad. Hidden in Plain View documents Tobin and Raymond Dobard's journey of discovery, linking Ozella's stories to other forms of hidden communication from history books, codes, and songs. Each quilt, which could be laid out to air without arousing suspicion, gave slaves directions for their escape. Ozella tells Tobin how quilt patterns like the wagon wheel, log cabin, and shoofly signaled slaves how and when to prepare for their journey. Stitching and knots created maps, showing slaves the way to safety. The authors construct history around Ozella's story, finding evidence in cultural artifacts like slave narratives, folk songs, spirituals, documented slave codes, and children's' stories. Tobin and Dobard write that "from the time of slavery until today, secrecy was one way the black community could protect itself. If the white man didn't know what was going on, he couldn't seek reprisals." Hidden in Plain View is a multilayered and unique piece of scholarship, oral history, and cultural exploration that reveals slaves as deliberate agents in their own quest for freedom even as it shows that history can sometimes be found where you least expect it. --Amy Wan
Product Description
The fascinating story of a friendship, a lost tradition, and an incredible discovery, revealing how enslaved men and women made encoded quilts and then used them to navigate their escape on the Underground Railroad.
"A groundbreaking work."--Emerge
In Hidden in Plain View, historian Jacqueline Tobin and scholar Raymond Dobard offer the first proof that certain quilt patterns, including a prominent one called the Charleston Code, were, in fact, essential tools for escape along the Underground Railroad. In 1993, historian Jacqueline Tobin met African American quilter Ozella Williams amid piles of beautiful handmade quilts in the Old Market Building of Charleston, South Carolina. With the admonition to "write this down," Williams began to describe how slaves made coded quilts and used them to navigate their escape on the Underground Railroad. But just as quickly as she started, Williams stopped, informing Tobin that she would learn the rest when she was "ready." During the three years it took for Williams's narrative to unfold--and as the friendship and trust between the two women grew--Tobin enlisted Raymond Dobard, Ph.D., an art history professor and well-known African American quilter, to help unravel the mystery.
Part adventure and part history, Hidden in Plain View traces the origin of the Charleston Code from Africa to the Carolinas, from the low-country island Gullah peoples to free blacks living in the cities of the North, and shows how three people from completely different backgrounds pieced together one amazing American story.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 63
 Let's get the facts straight February 4, 1999
41 out of 51 found this review helpful
If you're interested in how human beings survive and thrive under adverse circumstances and are specifically interested in the reliance and resourcefulness of the bearers of African culture, you'll enjoy this book. I feel someone should respond to the profoundly inaccurate characterzations of this book by "danael@earthlink.net from California" and to a lesser degree "A reader from Oregon." Contrary to claims by Danael, NOWHERE in the book do the authors "attempt to usurp the origin of quilting patterns and assign them to another group." In fact, early on they state very clearly that the tradition of quilting they describe is "a cultural hybrid, mixing African encoding traditions with American quilt patterning conventions..." Another blatant inaccuracy is the statement that no original African-American quilts appear in the book. This is simply not true. The book contains color reproductions of African, traditional African-American, and contemporary African-American quilts, including a quilt belonging to Frederick Douglass. As for the Oregon reader's statement that "title is a misnomer as to total content" this is also not factual. The book's title "Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Undeground Railroad" is a very precise and complete description of the book's contents. Another statment by the same reviewer is so inaccurate as to be bizarre: "The amount of information contained about quilts and patterns and their meanings could be explained in a 1-2 page article." The origins and possible meanings of over ten patterns are discussed, each pattern requiring several pages worth of exposition. I hope that no one is discouraged from reading this remarkable book by reviews that fail the test of basic accuracy. This book is worthy of attention and study.
A fascinating, inspiring book December 30, 1998
Teacher Who Loves Books (U.S,)
43 out of 57 found this review helpful
Dr. Dobard and Ms. Tobin tell a fascinating story, which I know they've been researching a long time. About a year after James Ransome's and my children's picture book, SWEET CLARA AND THE FREEDOM QUILT was published in 1993, I received a call from Ms.Tobin, who was searching for information about quilts and the underground railroad. Although the inspiration for Sweet Clara, a work of fiction, came from hearing a quilter on National Public Radio mention escape routes being sewn into quilts, we had never found actual documentation or confirmation. Now, incredibly, it seems that elements of the story, and the quilt James Ransome painted as Sweet Clara's escape route, somehow ring true to parts of Ozella McDaniel Williams' account of slaves using quilts to communicate.
Very much enjoyed this book February 2, 2010
Linda J. Jenkins (Rohnert Park, CA)
I found Ozella McDaniel Williams' revelations to be fascinating. I am not at all surprised about the ingenuity of the quilters in communicating the code to freedom. I enjoyed the telling of this oral history, and am greatful to Mrs. Williams, Ms. Tobin and Raymond Dobard for sharing.
History..interesting April 20, 2010
Margaret
This book is well written. Best part is that a group of ladies in East Texas have made it come to life by songs and story lines. They do an excellent job of telling the story. The book and title are referred to often.
Hidden in Plain View May 10, 2010
S. Whatley (Longview, Tx)
I had attended a program regarding the quilts and the underground railroad. I found it fascinating and wanted to know more about that period of our history. I ordered this book and found that as each page was read I was drawn deeper into the history and learning about each quilt pattern and how it enabled the slaves to find freedom was astonishing.
All in all I found this to be a great read and I highly recommend this book not only for quilt enthusiasts as I am but also for one wanting to know more about the history of this great country.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 63
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