Dorothy Montgomery, a South Carolina native, based her Gullah Boatman quilt on the long cabin pattern. The appliqué of the man rowing on a blue background depicts the spiritual, “Michael Row the Boat Ashore,” symbolizing the slave oarsman often heard singing in Gullah as he traveled in a bateaux along the water.
The song symbolizes the origin of the Gullah language, a Creole blend of other languages: the branches representing America, the trunk representing Africa/West Indies and the roots representing English.
PENN CENTER
