Customer Reviews

Eliza's Rail Tales

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This book picks up where Hidden In Plain View left off in perpetuating the story of coded messages in quilts to guide slaves to freedom. Appealing as this story is, it has been thoroughly debunked by noted African American historian Giles R. Wright and by several quilt historians, including Barbara Brackman, Xenia Cord, and Dr. Laurel Horton. There is NO evidence of quilts being used as codes, maps, or signals on the Underground Railroad (which is itself a subject of considerable mythologizing).

If you are interested in historical information about quilts and slavery, I strongly recommend Barbara Brackman's Facts and Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery: 8 Projects, 20 Blocks, First-Person Accounts.

Unfortunately, this fictional book perpetuates a myth about quilt history and about the Underground Railroad. For details, see the many Amazon reviews of Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad. There are so many brave heroes, black and white, of the escape from slavery that can be used by teachers, that planning a curriculum based on this "because it's a good story" is irresponsible.

If a book can be judged by its cover, then Eliza's Rail Tales: The Underground Railroad and Code of Quilts by Judy Haslee Scott, presents an overview of the contents. A photo of a beautiful young Black woman, "Eliza," who in actuality, became the author's mother-in-law, is featured there. Beside her is a quilt comprised of blocks that have been claimed, by Ozella McDaniel Williams, and the authors of Hidden in Plain View, to have been used as slave communication devices on the Underground Railroad.

While I, and other quilt historians, have voiced our objections and called the "secret quilt code" a myth, and we continue to believe that it is the case, this novel, if viewed as fiction and not non-fiction, has a lot going for it.

The illustrations are fabulous! The words of wisdom provided by the author, a seasoned classroom teacher, now retired, are really neat. For example, on the page about "Drunkard's Path," she mentions the quilt block's use of only two colors, one light and one dark. She says:

"I remember thinking how amazing it was that something so fancy could come from something so ordinary. I think we are like that. If we work and keep learning, we can make something very special from our simple lives." That is a profound and inspiring thought, indeed.

Even if you disagree with the "idea" of this book, I believe it is a good one to own, if only to get an idea of how this material is being presented to children, and to see the actual history that is incorporated in this 60 page book.

I believe that the author has covered herself well in presenting this story as a "novel." Anyone using the book for teaching purposes should uphold this notion. Visually, it is a lovely book. I appreciate the author's efforts in trying to make sense (for herself, and for children) of a senseless part of American history.

As author of Eliza's Rail Tales, I made my first entry into writing and illustrating a full color historical novel. This experience was a valuable one and has led me to the next step in my quilting/writing adventure. Over the last year I have researched the development of an area of land in Gilpin County, Colorado called Lincoln Hills. I have interviewed persons who lived this story and documented the significant events that took place during the 1920's through to the present time. Working with Gary Jackson of the Beckwourth Mountain Club, the colorful details of the African Americans who settled this mountain community have emerged and sparked action on my part. [...]

I have nearly completed an art quilt of this story and will soon get down to writing the details of the stories that these people, most of whom are now in their 80's, tell of the settling of this land by their parents and grandparents. As the work on this little told history unfolds, the available works will be documented at [...]. I look forward to sharing this information with you. The real Eliza pictured on the cover of Eliza's Rail Tales, was one of the heros of this historical non-fiction story along with her father and family.

Judy Haslee Scott