The story that was passed down for generations in the family of Ozella McDaniel Williams is a coded message steeped in African textile traditions that provides a link between slave-made quilts and the Underground Railroad. Williams describes how slaves made coded quilts and then used them to navigate their escape on the Underground Railroad. Her story offers proof that some slaves were involved in a sophisticated network that melded African textile traditions with quilts. (208pp. color illus. Doubleday, 1999.)