Clearwater Marine Aquarium just got $22 and $10.50 (well, they’ll get it in August) from the sale on E-bay of 2 of Grace’s whale pics. I have more donations on the way as people have said they want a pic too, Thanks guys! Grace is very excited that she will get to go on a behind the scenes trip at CMA and give them some money to help all kinds of sea critters.
You can still request a pic by e-mailing me at: liesecarberry@hotmail.com
Grace and a piece of baleen.
AKA the Underground Railroad. My friend Cynthia had her co-op today on the Underground RR. She did an awesome job conveying what the railroad was, who was involved and how it all happened.
She started off by reading a book about a child fleeing in the night with his family. They were escaping their master and trying to reach freedom. They came to a house with a quilt out front and by the pattern on the quilt knew that this was a safe place. We talked about quilt codes and why they were important. We learned that most slaves couldn’t read or write and wouldn’t have been allowed to anyway. But, if a slave was working a quilt the master would assume they just needed a blanket or were tying to use up old clothes. On the freedom trail though, quilts hung in a yard could help you out.
A bow tie (or hourglass) symbol meant that you needed to travel in disguise or change from the clothing of a slave to that of a higher person.
A shoofly symbol could identify a person who could guide and help you on the Underground Railroad.
A log cabin symbol meant that it was necessary to seek shelter or that a person was safe to speak to.
*Pics from these sites: http://z.about.com/d/quilting/1/0/J/D/-/-/bow_tie_block.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/quilting/1/0/O/J/-/-/churn_dash_block.jpg
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/log-cabin-quilt-block-3.jpg
After talking about all of these codes, we made a paper quilt with cut out pieces.
It’s the North Star symbol which could mean it’s time to go and also to follow the North Star to Canada.
Next we talked about freedom codes. These were terms that people used that had another meaning. This way slaves could talk without the master knowing what was going on. Sometimes codes were sung, like ‘Follow the drinking gourd’ and ‘Swing low, sweet chariot’. Here are a few other words and their meanings: Conductors – people who directly transported slaves, Freedom train – the Underground Railroad, Shepherds – people escorting escaping slaves, Station – a temporary refuge where slaves where safe, The river Jordan – the Mississippi river.
All of the kids had a short bio of an important person in the underground RR. Joel was Levin Tilmon. He was born a slave in Maryland in 1807, his mother apprenticed him to a man in Delaware, but that man considered him more a slave than an apprentice. He ran away, was brought back and then got help from abolitionists to remove him from his master’s custody. Eventually he was a minister and writer. Grace was Biddy Mason, born into slavery in Mississippi. Her owner eventually took her and her children to Utah and then to California with him. In CA she heard that she was free because it was a free state, but her owner suddenly decided to move them all back to TX and sell them. She got the help of a judge who said that all of her master’s slaves were residents of CA and therefore free people. She became a nurse, midwife, and philanthropist and founded the first African Methodist Episcopalian church in LA. Bethany was Sojourner Truth, born into slavery in New York in 1797. In 1826 Sojourner ran away with her infant daughter after her master failed to free her as he promised. She was helped by a Quaker family who paid the master for her and then gave her freedom. She is best known for her ‘Ain’t I a woman’ speech.
After reading the bios, Cynthia read another book about Henry Box Brown who escaped from slavery by mailing himself to abolitionists in Philadelphia. It was a tumultuous ride, but he made it there alive and free. We talked about how disguises might help you if you were a slave trying to escape. We talked about a husband-wife team who escaped by having the wife pose as a man and the husband as her man-servant. Here’s my disguise.
We also talked about what you might take with you when you left, not much. It might take months for you to get to a free state depending on where you started, if you had children or old people in your group it might take longer.
You couldn’t carry enough food, so you had to make do with what you could find. Most slaves only owned 1 set of clothes, so they didn’t need to pack a wardrobe.
She handed out handkerchiefs and the kids decorated them and then if they had something, they threw it in the bundle and tied it up.
It’s a really small bundle; Joel said he’d put a knife in it, Grace said some food (and maybe bunny.) We ran out of time and couldn’t do the last thing which was mapping the UGRR, but we can do that at home. That was a great co-op, I have a feeling we’ll be speaking in codes around here for awhile.
Find out more about the Underground Railroad here:
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