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front porch steps of a stranger's house to get a close look at the quilt. Imagine the time it took to search and see encoded messages in the quilt stitches, patterns, colors, and then note which way the motifs are pointing, in order to tell which way they were supposed to turn next. The usual response is something like, "and didn't they usually run after dark, too?," as they remember there were no porch lights or modern lighting products, such as flash lights. And it would be nearly impossible to see the idiosyncrasies of the quilt, much less the quilt itself, as they pass by, hidden in the deep brush or trees.'

She does have a very good point, a slave who is on the run would be panicking about getting caught, so would be trying to stay out of main areas and attract attention, staring at a quilt that is hanging out of a window would give the game away slightly! They would also try to run when it was dark so there would be less of a chance of getting caught in the daytime a black runaway would be quite noticeable...

There is also no other proof except this world of mouth and supposed tradition, however members of Ozella Williams family claimed they had no knowledge of this tradition and it has been suggested that the authors J. Tobin and R. Dobard were 'taken for a ride'. Mr. Wright asks, "And why weren't others in this [Black community] in possession of the same oral tradition that Williams related? Isn't it likely that Williams was putting Tobin on? Williams story is nice and appealing, but it defies logic; and it doesn't stand up to close scrutiny."

Giles R. Wright conducted a critique of the original book called "Hidden in Plain View: The Secret Code Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad". He remarks on the lack of corroborating historical evidence, saying, "The book offers no documentation for its thesis, relying instead on sheer conjecture and speculation in its lack of fidelity to historical truth." For his full critique see http://www.antiquequiltdating. com/ugrrwrightcritiqueHIPV.htm l.

===Education===
It has become part of American school curriculum with children learning about the quilt codes as part of American Black History. There are exhibitions with all styles of the different quilts supposedly used to help runaway slaves escape, and many different children's books written on the topic, an example of these books would be:
Follow the Drinking Gourd
Jeanette Winter's book tells the story of a man who went from plantation to plantation to teach slaves

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