DOI

https://doi.org/10.25772/VRN0-1H39

Defense Date

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Department

Theatre

First Advisor

Barry Bell

Second Advisor

Faye Prichard

Third Advisor

Tawnya Pettiford Wates

Abstract

The Freedom Quilt is a play that I have written and adapted from Deborah Hokinson’s book, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. This story explores the historic and dramatic implications in the idea of coded quilts as a form of communication among African American slaves; specifically as coded maps to freedom. There is an ongoing scholarly debate challenging the existence of these quilts, let alone that they could have been used in such a complex manner. The Freedom Quilt however, is one girl’s unique and individual story, and does not in any way suggest that maps, encoded in quilts were used by a large number of escaping slaves. I don’t know if the actuality of these quilts can ever be proven or disproven, but history has revealed that there were many paths to freedom, and following a map of this kind could very well have been one of them. This document was created in Microsoft Word 2000

Rights

© The Author

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

May 2009

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