Arrowhead Art Collection | Kansas City Chiefs - Chiefs.com
ARROWHEAD ART COLLECTION
Connecting Threads, 2014
Quilt
A cozy quilt connects family, history, and culture. Evidence exists that a "quilt code" once signaled directions to runaway slaves and quilts played an important role in funding both the Underground Railroad and the suffrage movement.
This imaginary scene depicts three women quilting together, in historic Quindaro, Kansas, where the artist grew up. The women are sewing a star, a symbol common in all three of the women's' cultural traditions. This particular star that is centered in the quilt-piece is known as the North Star. During slavery, the North Star represented the flight to freedom.
Quindaro was settled by Wyandotte Indians in the early 1840's. They were joined by members of the New England Immigrant Aid Society who supported an element of the Underground Railroad that ushered slaves across the Missouri River to freedom in Kansas. There are currently families living in Quindaro who trace their ancestry to one of those events.
Bonds was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and still resides in the area today.
NedRa Bonds