As part of our current History topic – Maafa – the children have been learning about how slaves were transported across the seas in what has become known as the ‘Black African Holocaust’. The children read the story – Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson.  

Although not scientifically proven, it has been commonly said that slaves often passed freedom quilts between them. Each freedom quilt was coded so that the slaves could follow the clues to safety. 

We began by researching a British quilting expert called Jenni Smith. She worked alongside over 100 slaves to create a freedom quilt which is currently on show at the London Slavery Museum.

We then designed our own freedom quilt fat quarters, suggesting codes that could be used by slaves on their journey to freedom.

Finally, we made our freedom fat quarters using our sewing skills on felt. I wonder if you can guess the code we have hidden in our squares. 

Here is a picture of our finished freedom quilt:

Some of our ideas explained:

Arthur: “I designed a tree and some arrows going up. My code was: Go north of the dead tree.”

Lilly: “I did a boat on the sea, to show the slaves that they had to travel to the sea and get on a boat.”

Abigail: “My design was a lighthouse as I wanted them to get on a boat next to the lighthouse. The lighthouse will show them the way.”

Abbie: “I designed a river with a path along it so that the officers might have thought they had to follow the path, when actually the slaves would have thought they had to follow the stream.”

Noah: “I designed a compass with one end showing a little arrow. I did not label it on purpose so that it wasn’t obvious to the guard which way the slaves should go.”