Rating: 
Summary: Great history of Underground Railroad Quilts
Review: This book was outstanding. I learned so much about how the slaves in South Carolina used quilts to teach each other how to escape right under the noses of their masters. I even used the idea in my fifth grade classroom to teach them about slavery and the Underground Railroad and then we made a sampler quilt.
Rating:
Summary: Very Informative
Review: I found this book to be very educational. I disagree with some of the other reviewers. Why are they so hard on the book? Is it that difficult to believe that the enslaved Africans were intelligent and capable of devising methods to escape such a horrific life as slavery?
I believe that the authors spent many hours researching the material that was presented in this book. They introduced information and facts that made a lot of sense. I think that those people who don't give credance to this book should do some fact-finding for themselves and present this evidence in their reviews. Maybe they can not see what is in plain view because they do not believe that these enslaved Africans were intelligent human beings, unwilling to live a life of pure hell. If white women, during the period of slavery, found quilt making as a means of expressing their grievances and their political views, then why couldn't the enslaved African women use the same media as a way of sending messages as well. These quilted encryptions were secret messages using codes known only to the Africans and Abolistionist (either white or black) who were willing to assist them in obtaining their freedom.
Give credit where credit is due: it's time to realize how cruel slavery was and to give the people who were enslaved some credit for having the sense to find a way out.
Rating: 
Summary: Wishful thinking disguised as historic fact.
Review: Rarely does one find a highly-publicized ostensibly non-fiction book so filled with misinformation. If this is an example of the level of scholarly research now found acceptable, we are in serious trouble... The glaring errors and inconsistencies in Tobin's premise are so obvious that an elementary school class sent her a number of questions. I think the author's furiously-backpedaling response, in which she blames everybody down to the graphics editor (whatever happened to author's proofs?), speaks more clearly about the sloppiness of this "pop culture" book than anything any reviewer could possibly say...
Rating: 
Summary: Hidden in Plain View
Review: What a wonderful story that has been hidden from most of our nation all these years. This volume tells the story of the many quilts my Mother made throughout her life, although she did not know this story..... too bad. I am so sorry she could not have read this book; she would have been fascinated too.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed the book
Review: I wanted information on the quilts used in the underground railroad and this was the only book I could find. I had not planned to read the book just look for information on the quilt blocks used. I found the information so interesting that I read the whole book. I did not know about the influence of the African culture on the patterns used in the quilts the slaves made and used for the underground railroad. I felt the authors included other research that supported their views. So much of the slave culture was ignored and not recorded that the only information available is what has been passed down from the previous generations. Often our culture has looked down on that time frame in US history, and has resulted in the meanings of the quilts and patterns has been a subject that was not discussed or passed on. Now the people who would know the meanings are not here to tell us what they knew. Ozella McDaniel Williams does remember some and that information is share and interesting. I did find it frustrating that the color pictures did not have more illustrations and found it hard at time to figure out which picture they refered to in the text. A suggestion is to check it out from your library first and see if you want to buy a copy for your collection. It has an extensive Bibliography in the back of the book for further reference sources.
Rating:
Summary: Hidden in Plain View
Review: I enjoyed reading the book, I read it twice and then I made a sampler quilt from the information that I got from reading it. I have shown the quilt to a number of people, I have told my grandchildren the story and the meaning of each block, it is a good conversation piece. I bought 6 of the books and gave them as gifts to friends and family. I have been asked to hang the quilt in the library during black history month.
Rating:
Summary: Hidden in Plain View
Review: I'm amazed at the other reviews I read about this book and thought it important that I add a positive review because the book was great. Jacquline Tobin knows how to tell a story and I found the story she had to tell was interesting. I think it makes a difference the reason you read the book, as a quilter I don't think I'd get much out of it but I read it for an American History class I'm taking. I actually enjoyed reading it and then writing my review for class. It's a good reminder that the Africans that were brought over were Africans first and then made into slaves. They brought with them a rich heritage that they used to better themselves on foreign shores. I was trying to gather information about the Underground Railroad and although I didn't get as much info as I would have like what I got instead was a clearer picture of the African American culture.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiration
Review: I have really enjoyed this book on the signifiance of quilts in the history of African Americans. I am a new quilter and I found the patterns interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: I have a very ambivalent response to this one!
Review: There are some books that are really problematic to review. This is one of them for me. On the positive side, my gut reaction is that there is a lot of truth to the authors' theories, and it presents a compelling way to look at quilts. I will think if the quilt patterns discussed here from a slightly different frame of reference after reading this, and that is, overall, a good thing. This is a also a book that could make history and textiles come alive for someone who is just becoming interested in the underground railroad, quilts, etc. My concern here (and I will be echoing the comments of lots of others who have written reviews) is that the authors' have virtually no corroborative evidence to back up their theories, and this is a major flaw in a book that purports to be a scholarly text. I understand very well that the lack of evidence is probably unavoidable, given the fragility of textiles, particularly from the age and circumstances that these would be, and also given the whole premise of these quilts being "hidden in plain sight." I guess that I would wish that the authors would have framed their discussion with some a discussion of some of this so that their story does not appear to be quite so speculative.
Rating:
Summary: Inaccurate "history"
Review: This book is not only poorly edited, it's misleading. All other quilt history I've read dates the "Underground Railroad" sort of quilt to the 1870's, so any influence this pattern had on the Civil War or slaves prior to the war would have been minimal, since it was not widespread until after the war. I agree with another reviewer who stated this book was more wishful thinking than true history. It starts with a great idea, but the research and the editing do not follow through.
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