How Did Slaves Use Art As A Form Of Communication

Other then actually escaping, the second biggest goal was to keep everything as low key and secret as possible. Signs and symbols became a second language in order to maintain this goal. Slaves who were planning to escape together or around the same time were very distant, never giving off the image that they could have been plotting something. And if they were in contact, they wouldn’t be caught speaking of anything in relation to running away. Slaves had to be inventive in the ways of communicating about certain things, and found ways around this. They sang songs with hidden meanings like Follow the Drinking Gourd, leading them to the path of freedom. They had a secret language in order to communicate solely about escaping and it is even said that they may have used quilts as a form of communication. …show more content…
They turned it into a second form of language that only they understood. Telling stories through pictures, passing it down from generation to generation. If slaves were not able to physically make art, songs were another popular choice for art communication. All songs had some sort of code, and these were also passed down from generation to generation. “Many of these slave songs talked about “going home” or “being bound for the land of Canaan.” If you just heard the song, you might think the people were singing about dying and going to heaven. However, the people who sang were very clever. They were actually singing about going north to Canada and freedom.” When doing every day things such as singing or quilting no one suspected that it was anything out of the ordinary, and that was exactly what they were attempting to do. All the while they were starting something so much more that would allow for thousands to successfully communicate and escape for many