The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Farce!
by
Henry Robert Burke
The Community Leader
Marietta, Ohio

E-mail: burkeh@charter.net

Here is my opinion of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. It is a high priced amusement facility masquerading as a representation of the Underground Railroad. Their only goal is to make money. The museum is an engine for redevelopment of downtown Cincinnati rather than a cultural contribution. They barely have a clue as to where, why, and how the Underground Railroad operated. Their only claim is that they have camouflaged their ill researched version of the Underground Railroad with expensive ultra high tech computers. It is a disgrace to the memory of the desperate fugitive slaves who fled from slavery to Canada and the hard working black and white people along the Underground Railroad who helped them!

If it seems like I am bitter that is correct. The reason is because I have stood by and watched this travesty develop from the beginning. I have no qualms with Cincinnati building an Underground Railroad museum to house its own local history of the Underground Railroad. In my opinion it would be a nearly bare bones museum for I cannot imagine what Underground Railroad relics they conjure up to fill such a museum. Perhaps that is the reason they plan to rent out their extra floor space at such exorbitant high rates.

They chose the name National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and I have an issue with that. The name seems to be a ruse to get a massive share of federal funding that could have been shared by local African American and Underground Railroad museums around the United States.

“Our location has a lot to do with symbolism,” Dr. Crew said. "In 1850, Cincinnati had the third-largest African-American population of any city in the country. People looking for freedom could look across the river, and once they got here could melt into the population and not be recaptured by those who were pursuing them."

Dr. Crew’s statement is not very accurate! A considerable number of fugitive slaves did pass through Cincinnati, but like every other town in Ohio along the Ohio River, Cincinnati was no haven for fugitive slaves. In 1829, more than 1000 free black people were run out of Cincinnati! From 1804 until 1849 an Ohio law stipulated that blacks settling in Ohio had to post a $500.00 bond. Though it was generally considered a “dead letter” law, it did prevent a large number of free blacks from settling in Ohio before 1850.

During the slavery period, even free black people were at risk in Cincinnati! Some unfortunate free blacks were kidnapped there and resold into slavery. Where is the evidence for such a large black population in Cincinnati? Did the black population of Cincinnati outnumber the black population of places like Charleston, South Carolina,- Boston, Mass.,- New York City,- Richmond, Virginia,- Philadelphia, Pa.,- Mobile, Alabama or New Orleans, Louisiana.? I think not!

I am also disappointed because they claim to tell the story of the Underground Railroad without a word about the Underground Railroad originating in Washington County, Ohio. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center was repeatedly told this by me and chose to ignore my documented evidence.

“It is a calculated approach, tailored to an institution with a mission - to promote the kind of awareness and activism that characterized abolitionists and others who sheltered and otherwise aided runaway slaves. We have a point of view," Dr. Crew said. "We're a museum of conscience."

Well I say that the museum may well be about conscience and a lot of other things, but it does not even come close to being an accurate history of the Underground Railroad even in Ohio. If you still want to waste your money, drive all the way to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, fight all that traffic, pay $10.00 to 12.00 per person for admission and pay your parking fees. Or you can come to the Belpre Historical Society Museum in Belpre, Ohio. For a modest donation you can get more Underground Railroad History in a small room than you can get from all the acres of empty, but dazzling light show at the so called National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati!

Freedom Center Invitation - click on: