Although most scholars consider the code a myth, it has become an empowering symbol of creativity in the face of oppression. Participants in the Grace Hill Settlement House program for teen mothers in North St. Louis helped create the Freedom Quilt in honor of Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing, Missouri’s first nationally-recognized Underground Railroad site.  The Confluence (Trailnet) and the Grace Hill Settlement House commissioned artist Edna J. Patterson-Petty to create this quilt. Working with the artist, the young women from Grace Hill integrated symbols they associated with the concept of freedom in the design of this quilt's border. The Confluence/Trailnet image used under Creative Commons license

Title: 
Freedom Quilt
Maker: 
Edna J. Patterson-Petty and women from Grace Hill Settlement House
Made in
2009
East St. Louis
Illinois