In 2021, our city of Chattahoochee Hills hosted a Black History Exhibit in the lobby of city hall.
I had always been fascinated with the Underground Railroad Codes. Legend has it that quilts were placed in plain view, and their individual patterns were given meaning that would guide enslaved African-Americans to escape into free states and Canada. I refer to this as "legend" because many academic historians use that label when there is no primary source for confirmation, such as a living person or written text. However, African-Americans (and many others) were illiterate at the time and passed down their history through word-of-mouth -- what we now call "oral history." Oral history is still widely used today, as I can attest to by living in a rural community, where the stories of the past are re-told by generational family members. I drafted the image on the right for the exhibit, using text from a copyrighted book by Elanor Burns & Sue Bouchard. |