Dark Clouds Arising

In the late 1940s, two former enslaved African American women came to the Quaker Meeting for Worship in Tracy, California. They wanted to thank the Quakers for their involvement in the abolition movement by teaching them a coded Underground Railroad spiritual. Winnie and her sister had learned the song when they were young slaves. My family was part of the Tracy Quaker Meeting, and learned the song from Winnie and her sister. I grew up singing it during Quaker Meetings for Worship.

This artwork contains the lyrics and code to the song within the quilted lines.