Underground Railroad Codes

The 5th Grade class is wrapping up our unit on the Civil War.  During our unit, we discussed how slaves often tried to escape to the North.  Students questioned how this was possible knowing that many had very little education nor people they could rely on.  Our textbook gave us a little background information on codes that slaves used.  I enhanced this by playing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot for the class and asked them to decipher any messages they thought might be sung in this song.  The students were able to pick up on subtle hints from the song.  I also displayed quilts or blankets on our screen that showed examples of work that had codes sewed on to the top.  The class then set out to create their own quilts with hidden messages, using at least 8 quilting squares to write a code.

In this picture, Noel Perez, Joel Marcial, Mia Vazquez, Arianna LaSalle and Carlos Mendoza show their coded messages for all to see.

Some of the messages were done extremely well and were completed with historical accuracy.  The class had to decipher what the students meant with their symbols on their quilts.

Here are some close up images of the fine work done by the 5th Grade class.