African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African folklore 926
while on another level, the same symbols have deeper African meanings revealed only
under special circumstances, to special people.
It was the manipulation of secret symbols, Prince Hall Masonic symbols, by African
American secret society members, which contributed to the success of the American
Underground Railway. Gladys-Marie Fry (1990) writes that quilts were used to send
messages through the underground railroad. Log Cabin Quilts made with black cloth
were hung on a line to indicate a safe house of refuge. Joyce Scott reports that “My
mother was told that slaves would work out a quilt, piece by piece, field by field, until
they had an actual map, an escape route. And they used the map to find out how to get off
the plantation.”
Protective Writing
Writing continued to have protective symbolism in African American culture, even when
the writing was in English. Newsprint has been placed on the walls of southern homes,
and in shoes as well, partly for protection against the weather, but in African American
homes, to protect against evil enslaving spirits, in the belief that “evil spirits would have
to stop and read the words of each chopped up column” before they could do any harm.
This concept derives from the African American practice of leaving a Bible open at night
so that the power of religious words would protect a family.
Checks
Checks are another popular old African American quilt top pattern remembered from
early childhood. Checked designs can be made from the smallest scraps, and also allow
for maximum contrast between squares without elaborate preplanning. Checked designs
are transformed into the popular “Nine-Patch” block design also often seen in Anglo-
American quilt-making traditions. Perhaps the ancestors of some African American
quilters adopted “Nine-Patch” and other checked and triangular patterns, like “Wild
Goose Chase,” because they resembled the nine-square patterns of West African
weaving, the Nigerian leopard society resist cloths, or the checked designs so often seen
in Kuba raffia cloth.
Crosses
Crosslike patterns also occur frequently in African-American quilts. Although now
interpreted as Christian crosses, they could once have been adopted because of a
resemblance to the Yoruba belief in sacred crossroads, or the Kongo symbol for the four
points of the sun. Circular designs, like crosses, may have once been a means for
remembering the Kongo cosmogram. A Pinwheel pattern evokes the circular nature of
the cosmogram, the rebirth of souls into the bodies of grandchildren. A Wheel quilt and a
Double Wedding Ring quilt could have the same function.