National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Author: dcrosby

20 Aug 08

So my wife and I traveled down to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati the other day. When I got the directions I noticed it was on the corner of Rosa Parks and Freedom Way streets after turning off of Race Ave. Oh snap! Usually any street named after a black person in America is the last place you want to be. If you’re lost in a major city and end up on Martin Luthor King Jr. Blvd. get out as fast as you can. You’re probably in the heart of the ghetto (my dad calls it “the bucket of blood”) where even the cops fear to tread.

I needn’t have worried though. It was right downtown. In an area of the city that had probably been freshly scrubbed to make it safe for tourists. Actually it’s located right on the banks of the Ohio River facing Covington, Kentucky. It’s location there actually makes a lot of sense as Kentucky was a slave state. Runaways made Cincinnati a primary destination and by getting there could breath a huge sigh of relief before continuing on through Ohio to Canada as many did. The building is quite impressive too. I was immediately taken with the quality of the architecture and materials used. A lot of thought and care went into the building itself. It didn’t have that “mammy made” quality as too many of our projects tend to. It was designed by a black architectural firm Blackburn Associates.

click for larger image

The Freedom Center has five floors though the bulk of the exhibits are on floors two and three. Floor one has the museum store and floors four and five have administrative offices and conference rooms I believe. Each floor is divided into three wings labeled “Courage”, “Cooperation” and “Perseverance”. That seems to be their slogan and I like it a lot. To me that sums up the African American struggle.

Inside, you’ll find a wealth of information, including fine art, video kiosks, and three dimensional displays. You could easily spend a day looking at everything and reading all the textual information and still not see it all. One nice touch that I wasn’t expecting were these small, iPod sized, audio units that come on a lanyard and were handed out when you first enter the Center. You could press the number next to each display into the unit and it will read the text to you plus give you additional information that was not visible on the display. Very nice, though it led to the somewhat odd vision of families going through the Center with them pressed to their ears and not speaking with each other. There is a lot of reading and walking, but thankfully, there are areas showing short videos spread throughout, giving you the chance to rest your feet and eyes.

Of course I wouldn’t be Crosby if I didn’t have some kind of beef, so let me get to it. Let’s start with the name; The Freedom Center. In America everything has to be about freedom. Even slavery. Not a big deal, but a subtle way of redefining America’s crimes against African humanity. The Center itself, while being historically accurate, was a bit watered down to me. It didn’t hit as hard as it could. That’s to be expected, especially considering the corporate and political capital that was needed to create a site like this.

More disturbing was an exchange we caught from a guide who was leading some Amish folks on a tour. This Negro had the nerve to suggest that no blacks that he knew of were interested in living anywhere but America, and went on to suggest slavery was in some way a “blessing” as America now provides medicines to Africa. That mentality is very similar to the justifications slave owners used to use. That they were introducing these poor “nigras” to Christianity and civilization. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and am embarrassed to say that I didn’t take that fool to task immediately. I must be getting old. With all the school children I saw being guided by various individuals it reminded me of the difference between education and knowledge. American education is a tool to indoctrinate the population to be good consumers and employees, similar to a trained dolphin at Sea World. Let the man ride you while you do tricks, then be rewarded with a “treat”. Knowledge empowers the individual to understand the world around her and make decisions beneficial to themselves and their community. Huge difference.

That said, The Freedom Center is well worth the $12 entrance fee.Â It’s something that needed to be built and if you have children you should make a point of getting there if you can. There is a wealth of information though you must be careful of how it’s interpreted. The images below show more of the Center.

[Show as slideshow]