National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opens in Cincinnati

Jet, Sept 13, 2004

It's perhaps the most courageous chapter in American History. And now--after some 150 years of reflection and a decade of planning--the journey of runaway slaves from safe house to safe house, from dusk to dawn, from slavery to freedom has a dedicated place to tell its story.

On 40 acres along the northern bank of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, at the exact spot where countless slaves tasted their first freedom, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center recently opened.

Thousands came from across the country to participate in the weekend-long grand opening events, which culminated in an appearance by first lady Laura Bush.

The $80 million, 158,000-square-foot Freedom Center is the first museum dedicated to the quest of enslaved people to be free. The mission of the center is to bring to life the heroic stories of courage, cooperation and perseverance in the pursuit of freedom everywhere, but especially from the Underground Railroad's history. It honors those who escaped and those of all races who secretly helped slaves journey to freedom along the hundreds of miles of the Underground Railroad. "It makes something move inside of you," said Fred Shuttlesworth, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who was in attendance.

The night before the grand opening, 1,500 people, including celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Angela Bassett and her husband, actor Courtney Vance, Nikki Giovanni and Robert Johnson, BET founder and owner of the NBA expansion Charlotte Hornets, attended what was called "Dinner Under the North Star," a $1,000-a-plate outdoor gala on the grounds of the center.

Johnson made a personal donation of $3 million to the Freedom Center.

Oprah Winfrey said, "The Freedom Center is a place that I fully, fully support. I truly believe that you have to know where you came from before you can know where you are going. Without the efforts of the courageous individuals who sought freedom along the Underground Railroad, we wouldn't enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that we do today."

Muhammad Ali, Danny Glover, Vanessa Williams and U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young are among the many others who have lent their support to the center. So has Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, although he was a no-show during the grand-opening celebration, where he was scheduled to perform a free concert. But the show went on, with a children's pavilion, storytellers, fireworks and the lighting of the "freedom flame," which symbolizes the candles used by abolitionists to guide slaves along the Underground Railroad. It is the center's logo.

"We wanted to present an unflinching story about the evils of slavery," said Freedom Center CEO Spencer Crew, who was the former director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. "But not in a way that alienated modern-day visitors."

Several days before the grand opening, President Bush and presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) visited the center within hours of each other. "What a beautiful museum...," Kerry said. "It also prompts me to go back to the history books and reread some things."

The concept for the Freedom Center was first proposed in 1994 by Robert Harrod, the executive director of the local chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (now called the National Conference for Community and Justice), as a way the group could celebrate its 50th anniversary. He initially thought it would be a small, perhaps traveling, museum. But with the help of the federal government (President Bill Clinton signed legislation in 2000 that established the center as a national memorial) and thousands of donors, Whites and Blacks, including such Black-owned enterprises as the Oprah Winfrey Foundation and Johnson Publishing Company, as well as Fortune 500 companies like Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble (which donated more than $6 million), Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., and Delta Airlines, the idea grew.

"Most good ideas come from good intentions," Harrod said. "We wanted to give something back to the community, something that was related to our mission, something that would be of perpetual value, and something that the city needed."

Today, in the midst of a city that has had more than its share of racial strife, particularly between African-Americans and the local police department, the Freedom Center stands, representing one of most ambitious museum projects ever. City leaders hope that the museum can be a constant reminder of how far race relations have come in the country, and how much more work needs to be done. "While we know that we had our problems, we also know that we have our better angle," Harrod said. "And the Freedom Center is a perfect example of the high moral ground Cincinnati has historically played in race relations."

The travertine stone and copper exterior of the center are meant to symbolize the exuberance and movement of freedom across the Ohio River, from the slave states of the South to the free states of the North. Cincinnati served as a major hub of activity during the Underground Railroad.