The National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center:
An Overview
In
conjunction with the International Symposium
Breaking the
Silence:
Teaching About the Transatlantic Slave Trade, UNESCO Associated School Project Network and Slave Routes Project.
Tulane University, August 19-21,2000.
The
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, will open in early 2004. The Freedom
Center will be built on the northern bank of the Ohio River in Cincinnati as the
centerpiece of a $2 billion river front development initiative. Programs and
exhibits of the Freedom Center will highlight the Underground Railroad’s true
stories of courage, self-emancipation and cooperation in the quest for freedom.
Using
state-of-the-art exhibitions, dialogues and collaborative learning experiences,
freedom stations, and its public Web site (www.undergroundrailroad.org), the
Freedom Center will prepare modern day freedom conductors for action today. Planning
for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center project began in 1994.
The Freedom Center was incorporated and granted 501(c)(3) status in 1995.
Additional information about the $90 million Freedom Center project can be
obtained at 513/412.6900, or at www.undergroundrailroad.org.
Slavery´s
Past
During
the 16th and 17th centuries a "peculiar institution" was developed in
the Americas based on the enforced chattel labor of Africans by Europeans and,
later, Americans. The American Revolution, however, began to affect the way that
Americans viewed slavery. During this time, hundreds of thousands of enslaved
fugitives sought freedom through the Underground Railroad.
The
Underground Railroad is the symbolic term given to the routes enslaved African
Americans took to gain their freedom as they traveled, often as far as Canada,
Mexico and the Caribbean. Free Blacks, Whites, Native Americans and former
slaves acted as “conductors” by aiding fugitive slaves in their efforts to
obtain freedom. Often, the enslaved people journeyed on their own, braving
dangers of every kind.
Programs
The
Freedom Center will present groundbreaking exhibits, interactive educational
programs, and community and family-centered research. Through its interpretive
programs the Freedom Center will promote an understanding of the horrors of
slavery, the active resistance movements, and the achievement of freedom against
the odds.
Exhibits
Visitors
to the Freedom Center will be faced with the most divisive social issue during
the 19th century -- slavery. African Americans showed enormous determination in
their struggles against slavery. The legacy of slavery continues today in the
form of racism and other types of slavery around the world. The Underground
Railroad serves in addition, as an example of interracial collaboration that
modern-day freedom conductors can use as a model for fighting for freedom today.
The Freedom Center intends to carry on this vision through its exhibits
and programs. The following is a preliminary sample of exhibits planned for the
Freedom Center when it opens in 2004:
Orientation
Theater
Most likely in the form of an object theater incorporating objects, film and
slide imagery, this experience will introduce visitors to the National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center`s mission and purpose. The Orientation will
emphasize understanding what the Underground Railroad was and why it is
important today.
Slave
Jail
Acquired from rural Kentucky, this authentic Slave Jail was used to hold slaves
while they were in transit from areas including the Upper South of Maryland and
Virginia to the developing Deep South to Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and
Texas. The Jail will stand as a symbol of slavery and the struggle against that
"peculiar institution."
Story
Theater
The Flight to Freedom Story Theater is designed to be an emotional and open
experience for audiences. Stories will connect guests to the immorality of
slavery, the uncertainty of escape, and the networks used by fugitive slaves to
escape. Current plans call for this core experience to center on the story of
John Parker, a man born enslaved who bought his own freedom and risked it to
free others.
Freedom
and Slavery
This exhibit will give the historical background that prompted the Underground
Railroad movement. Guests will experience a different point of view, as if in
the shoes of the slave. The exhibit will allow visitors to walk through history
starting with the nation’s beginnings in the 1790s up to the Civil War.
Underground
Railroad and the 20th Century
To continue the journey of the powerful individuals who made the Underground
Railroad possible, this exhibit will teach both young and older visitors about
the cooperation, courage, and perseverance of the early freedom fighters. This
exhibit will allow visitors to experience the legacy of the Underground Railroad
and the struggles that continued after the Civil War.
Education
Programs
The
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center`s first public education effort
will be an innovative national curriculum intended for elementary school
students. The Freedom Curriculum, currently being designed by a team of
educators, curriculum designers, historians, and human relations practitioners,
will integrate the disciplines of history, human relations, and social activism
in an interactive learning process.
The
Freedom Curriculum is being designed and implemented in partnership with the
College of Education at the University of Cincinnati, which will provide ongoing
evaluation of the curriculum as it is pilot-tested in communities throughout the
nation.
The
curriculum design team has established an ambitious goal for the project: The Freedom
Curriculum will influence the personal and moral development of middle
school students by providing a learning process through which students employ
critical thinking skills to analyze authentic narratives and historical texts
from the antebellum period of American history; extrapolate human relations
principles and themes from this analysis; and apply these principles to a
contemporary examination of freedom, resistance to oppression, and racial
reconciliation in personal and community relationships.”
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Family
History
The
Family History Program of the Freedom Center will bring together historical
records, family stories, and African American genealogies. It will offer
researchers the opportunity to learn about the complex relationships among
families. Special areas of interest include the stories of Underground Railroad
conductors, freed and escaped slaves, White and Black indentured servants,
slaveowners and slave traders, Black and White abolitionists, as well as Native
Americans who were slaves, slaveowners, or who harbored escaped slaves.
These
resources document and bring to life the range of often unlikely cooperation in
antebellum America which made the Underground Railroad and other forms of
resistance to slavery possible. These resources also demonstrate the impact of
hundreds of years of cultural exchange among the diverse peoples of Europe,
Africa, and North America.