Bandana - A Place For You (Harriet Tubman II)

A tribute to Harriet Tubman in partnership with the National Archives Foundation.

Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, a commander of a battalion during the Civil War, a spy, a wife and a woman.

Frederick Douglass said of Tubman: "The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism.  Except perhaps John Brown, I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have."

She was born in Confederate Maryland, a region of the US that at the time was well known for producing textiles including beautiful handmade quilts. Enslaved women would have made quilts and their skills and knowledge would laid the foundation for the African American quilt making tradition that is celebrated today.  

This bandana is inspired by Harriet Tubman and by these quilts and quilt makers. The design features a woman moving silently through a dark forest. The blocks of color are meant to symbolize the blocks used in quilting and also the idea of moving from bondage to freedom. 

The bandana features Harriet Tubman's last words "I go to prepare a place for you."

Also available for sale in the National Archives Foundation online shop.