A “Pre-Civil War Quilts: Secret Codes to Freedom on the Underground Railroad”program will be held at the Elgin History Museum.

Join Connie Martin as she tells the stories passed down to her Great Grandmother Lizzie of how her family survived the antebellum period through trials and tribulations, and how they used quilts that contain hidden codes and secret messages to assist abolitionists; white and black, to guide slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad to Canada.

During this presentation, Connie shares 18 different quilt patterns in replica quilts and refer to a book her mother, Dr. Clarice Boswell, wrote about their family called Lizzie’s Story: A Slave Family’s Journey to Freedom.

This program is being held in partnership with the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau. Zoom will be available, but the presentation will not be recorded.

Free for members. Guests are $5. Please register.