Ohio Star

About this block

This is a nine-patch star, four quarter-square triangle units forming the points, four plain corner squares, and a center square. Quilt historian Barbara Brackman traces its story to Oberlin, Ohio, an abolitionist town home to Oberlin College, one of the first American colleges to admit both women and Black students. The block honors Mary Leary Langston, whose first husband, Lewis Sheridan Leary, was killed at age 24 fighting alongside John Brown in the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry. An Ohio Star quilt made in her honor is now held by the International Quilt Museum. The block also carried the political slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" during the 1840 presidential campaign of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler, and it's known under several other regional names, including Variable Star and Texas Star.