Runaway Quilt Project: Digital Humanities Exploration of Quilting During Slavery
A Session by Deimosa Webber-Bey (Director, Information Services & Cultural Insight, Scholastic Inc. / Pratt Institute SILS)
About this Session
Like many people, I grew up hearing that quilts were used as sign posts on the Underground Railroad, but that historians have found no 'evidence' - because it wasn't written down. The Runaway Quilt Project uses digital humanities tools to explore the plethora of data that exists regarding quilting during the era of slavery, looking for interesting trends and correlations. Started in library school, two dataquilts are the archival products of this exploration, as well as an article published in the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. The dataquilt "Maker Known" toured with the 2014 International Quilt Festival.