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that escaped during the period 1830 - 1862, less than 1% fled north. A black free man had to have proof of his identity to prove that he wasn't an escaped slave if he was moving across borders, and so many slaves just melted into local black communities and passed themselves off as free men.

===Freedom Quilts===
The basis of the freedom quilt idea is that because slaves could not read or write then other forms of communication became necessary to warn them of how to escape, and this took the form of freedom quilts. A large majority of quilt patterns had their roots in the African traditions the slaves brought with them to North America when they were captured and forced to leave their original homeland. The Africans' main method of recording their history and stories was by committing it to memory and passing it on orally to following generations. It has been suggested that quilt patterns were passed down the same way.

They would either be made by slaves, escaped slaves or white people who were sensitive to the plight that the enslaved blacks were in. This meant that the only people to know the codes would be a select group of people who had committed them to memory, and considering the harsh laws on helping slaves to escape the people to know and make the quilts would be trustworthy.
The quilts were hung over fences or windows to give information to slaves preparing to escape, they would be put in a specific order to give necessary information. As quilts hung out to air was a common sight on a plantation, neither the plantation owner nor the overseer would notice anything suspicious.

===The code===
Each block had a different meaning to it, a meaning which the slave would understand and white slave owners wouldn't.

Ozella Williams actually gave a full code which said;
There are five square knots on the quilt every to inches apart. They escaped on the fifth knot on the tenth pattern, and went to Ontario, Canada.
The MONKEY WRENCH turns the WAGON WHEEL towards Canada on a BEAR'S PAW trail to the CROSSROADS. Once the got to the CROSSROADS they dug a LOG CABIN on the ground. SHOOFLY told them to dress up in cotton and satin BOW TIES and go to the cathedral church, get married and exchange DOUBLE WEDDING RINGS. FLYING GEESE stay on the DRUNKARD'S PATH and follow the STARS.

The meaning of the above code is listed below:
FLYING GEESE: A patterned block advising the slave to follow the directions of the flying geese migrating north in the spring. This would allow the slave to

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