Chicago Church Celebrates Black History With Quilt Block Project

Twelve 3-foot-by-3-foot quilt blocks in patterns commemorating the freedom enslaved people sought and found through the Underground Railroad decorated the sanctuary of Pullman Christian Reformed Church through the month of February, Black History Month. It was part of the congregation’s annual recognition of Black history through weekly presentations each February.

Not an actual “railroad,” the term Underground Railroad represents the established network of groups that organized escape routes from places of enslavement in America to freedom from the late 1700s until America’s Civil War. Quilted by seven women through December and January, the blocks displayed at Pullman CRC are a series of patterns popularized by the book Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts And The Underground Railroad, published in 1999.

While the oral history recounted in that book hasn’t seen the corroboration necessary to be widely accepted by historians, the Pullman CRC project sought to recognize how documentation doesn’t always accompany the stories from the past. “By making our own set of quilt blocks, Pullman CRC wanted to acknowledge the silence of the past and affirm the struggle, the price, and the strategy the enslaved went through to seek freedom. In this way, we could get closer to the story and each other,” wrote project coordinator Betty Grevengoed and seamstress-turned-quilter Virginia Foster, in a submission to The Banner.

The patterns, which include the North Star, Flying Geese, Jacob's Ladder, Bear Paw, and Log Cabin, hold significant meaning connected to the journey to freedom, Grevengoed and Foster wrote—indicating the direction of travel and places of refuge.

Many of the symbols in the quilt patterns “parallel the secret codes sung in many of the Negro Spirituals during this time,” the women said. “Enslaved people sang in the fields and houses of the enslavers, doubling down on the meaning of personal freedom and freedom in Jesus Christ. They sang songs like laying down their burdens by the riverside. The song ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ had a similar message to the Wagon Wheel quilt. The Monkey Wrench quilt had a similar message to the Negro Spiritual ‘Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round,’ and the Bear Paw quilt had a similar message to the song ‘Wade in the Water.’”

Foster, who is married to Pullman CRC’s pastor Gary Foster, said the reception to the colorful quilts lining the sanctuary has been striking. “They really had an effect on people,” she said, noting they were still hanging in mid-March but would likely be replaced by the church’s typical Easter banners soon.

Grevengoed, who encouraged others to get involved in creating the quilt blocks in December, had previously quilted many banners for Pullman CRC, for each season in the church calendar. Foster said they expect to hang this new set of block banners next February too.

The women are grateful for how the project brought Pullman members and friends together to create something meaningful, despite how gaps in history-keeping leave some voices silent. “We could overcome silence and speak out for our sisters and brothers who are marginalized and need help to call out racism or fight against injustice,” they wrote. “Like the enslaved and abolitionists, we must remain vigilant. May we remember and celebrate many more parts of our history together in February or any month of the year.”

Foster said this collaboration has sparked a new quilting club at Pullman CRC, building on a previous sewing ministry where sewists got together to create many different items—from coats to dresses and travel bags—for themselves and others.