The next pattern referenced in Hidden in Plain View is the Shoofly Block. Shoofly is the sixth pattern that escaped slaves would see on their journey to freedom. The Shoofly block alerted the slaves to dress up in cotton and satin bow ties. Ozella McDaniel Williams thought the Shoofly may have referred to an actual person who would aid the slaves. She had no further information on that, so the authors of the book question was the Shoofly representative of free blacks who may have been secretly aiding and harboring fugitives?
This block got its name from a wild plant called clover broom or shoofly flower. The Shoofly block has gone by other names as Eight Cornered Box, Simplicity and Hole in the Barn Door.
