African Slave Quilt Codes

During slavery slaves were not allowed to read or write. It was actually illegal to teach slaves. So they had to create some sort of unspoken system to talk to each other. This system came in the form of codes such as songs, dances, rituals, code words, and symbols. Both white people who were aiding the slaves and the blacks who had already escaped the plantations created these codes. One way of coding messages was through quilt codes. Making quilts during that time period was an African tradition that had particular meanings. In Africa the quilts were used to record history and were passed down from generation to generation. The quilts would be draped over fences so that all the slaves on the plantation could view them as well as other slaves