Underground railroad museum opens

Jet, August 23, 2004

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD MUSEUM OPENS: Dr. Spencer Crew (r), executive director and CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, chats with Judge Nathaniel Jones, who is on the Freedom Center's Board of Directors, during a media tour of the new museum which recently opened in Cincinnati.

At right, senior advisor Carl Westmoreland discusses the history of the 20-by-30-foot slave pen on display at the museum. It is the featured exhibit at the museum. Other exhibits include contemporary quilts and murals depicting the slave trade, photos and tributes to 19th century abolitionists; and a timeline of events, starting with the introduction of African slaves to the Virginia colony in 1619. The museum is in memory of freedom conductors such as Harriet Tubman, John Parker and Rev. John Rankin and the secret network that helped slaves escape north to freedom in the 1800s.