HOPE, Ark.—A message contained in a quilt pattern was used in the Underground Railroad to tell slaves running for freedom to “get their mental and spiritual tools together for the journey ahead.”

The quilt design, which contains the same message, is part of a mural honoring pioneer educator Henry C. Yerger. It was dedicated Friday afternoon in Hope, Ark.

Yerger established the first school for blacks west of the Mississippi River in the late 1800s and continued providing education facilities in Hope into the early 1900s.

The Southwest Arkansas Arts Council a...

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