This past weekend we hosted a Black History Month Kickoff Celebration. My coworkers hosted a puppet show/ storytime, and I helped the kids to create our library's very own Freedom Quilt!
Legend has it that during the times of the Underground Railroad, African American slaves used quilts along the Underground Railroad to communicate messages and signals that would help them to escape to freedom. Different patches on these Freedom Quilts conveyed varying messages, such as following the North Star, identifying friendly houses for shelter, or following a safe mountain trail.
To prepare for this craft program, I pre-cut quilt squares made from some patterned paper I found in our magical craft closet. I hole punched each corner and added a bit of red yarn to all four corners of each square. Finally, I pre-cut a variety of squares and triangles so that the children could make their own patterns on their quilt squares. I provided some examples for them to look at (Shoofly, Monkey Wrench, Hourglass, Star, Crossroads, and Flying Geese) and was pleasantly surprised when all of the participants creatively came up with their own designs by cutting, coloring, and gluing the shapes onto their squares.
Once the squares dried overnight, I tied each corner together to make our quilt. There was a fairly heavy amount of prep-work involved with this project, but I am so pleased with the results. The quilt is now proudly hung on display outside our children's room. Not one child was disappointed that they couldn't take their quilt square home; instead they were excited and proud to have their work displayed in the library!
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