Quilt Code Examples

Flying Geese: A signal to follow the direction of the flying geese as they migrated north in the spring. Most slaves escaped during the spring; along the way, the flying geese could be used as a guide to find water, food and places to rest. The quilt maker had flexibility with this pattern as it could be used in any quilt. It could also be used as a compass where several patterns are used together.

North Star: A signal with two messages--one to prepare to escape and the other to follow the North Star to freedom in Canada. North was the direction of traffic on the Underground Railroad. This signal was often used in conjunction with the song, “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, which contains a reference to the Big Dipper constellation. Two of the Big Dipper’s points lead to the North Star.

http://www.osblackhistory.com/quiltcodes.php

‘“Wade in the Water”, Example of a Coded Slave Song

One of the most common slave songs and still a gospel standard, provided literal escape instructions’ for slaves:

Wade in the water (children)
Wade in the water
Wade in the water
God's gonna trouble the water
If you don't believe I've been redeemed
God's gonna trouble the water
I want you to follow him on down to Jordan stream
(I said) My God's gonna trouble the water
You know chilly water is dark and cold
(I know my) God's gonna trouble the water
You know it chills my body but not my soul
(I said my) God's gonna trouble the water
(Come on let's) wade in the water
Wade in the water (children)
Wade in the water
God's gonna trouble the water
Now if you should get there before I do
(I know) God's gonna trouble the water
Tell all my friends that I'm comin' too
(I know) God's gonna trouble the water
Sometimes I'm up lord and sometimes I'm down
(You know my) God's gonna trouble the water
Sometimes I'm level to the ground
God's gonna trouble the water
(I Know) God's gonna trouble the water
Wade in the water (children)
Wade out in the water (children)
God's gonna trouble the water

The very title of ‘Wade in the Water’ is advice to the runaways on how to avoid being tracked by bloodhounds. The reference to ‘Jordan’ could well be the Promised Land, in this case Canada where slavery did not exist. ‘It chills my body, but not my soul’ is reference to the physical discomforts that the journey will take, but at the same time is trying to bolster the spirits. ‘Now if you should get there before I do’ and ‘Tell my friends that I’m a comin’ too’ are much more obvious allusions to a journey.

http://www.localdial.com/users/jsyedu133/Soulreview/Understandingpages/coded.htm

The Ross Code of Slave Communication

Henrietta Buckmaster, 1958:
He [Ross] had developed a code which fugitives committed to memory. It led them safely from station to station. For example, Meadville, Ohio, was known by the number 10; Seville, Ohio, by 20; Media, Ohio, by 27. Cleveland was called "hope"; Sandusky, "sunrise: Detroit, "midnight"; and the ports of entry into Canada were all bursts of praise. Windsor was "Glory to God,"' Port Stanley, "God be Praised." So "Helpers work at midnight" was merely a poetry phrase except to the slave who held the key.

- Henrietta Buckmaster, Flight into Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad
(NY: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1958), 138.
[Henrietta Buckmaster was the pseudonym for Henrietta Henklel]

Frederick Douglass on Slave Songs...

Frederick Douglass, a runaway slave turned abolitionist, would say that slave songs "reveal at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness. They told a tale of woe which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones loud, long, and deep; they breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains." When Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery to the North, he ran into those who believed that the songs were sung out of contentment and happiness and to this he says, "It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake. Slaves sing when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slaves were in a sense cathartic. Although they rarely revealed any sign of happiness, the idea of singing through their pain was like drinking away one's sorrows.