Slavery in soft focus

Underground Railroad museum emphasizes humanity's fight for freedom

COMMENTARY BY

James Cummings
Dayton Daily News
Sunday, August 8, 2004

EXCERPT

Not many people have seen the completed (Cincinnati) Freedom Center, but underground railroad history fans contacted by the Dayton Daily News are beginning to form opinions based on what they've seen or heard so far.

Local historian Betty Campbell of Ripley, Ohio, helped the Freedom Center staff film scenes for its short movie Brothers of the Borderland on locations where former Ripley residents John Parker and the Rev. John Rankin helped slaves to ecsape.

"I was very impressed with the authenticity and the accuracy they were striving for," Campbell said. "it's a wonderful tribute to a very ugly part of our history."

John Mattox runs the Underground Railroad Museum in Flushing, Ohio, and he has heard about the Brothers of the Borderland movie presentation at the Freedom Center. He doesn't think much of the approach.

Before viewing the movie, museum patrons see a video introduction narrated by Oprah Winfrey and then enter a small theater decorated like the forested banks of the Ohio River. As they wait for the movie to start, they hear recorded animal and water sounds as mist machines create fog by the river.

"We're a small museum but we have thousands of artifacts on display," Mattoc said. "We try to encourage a hands-on approach to discovering history. You can't get hands on by hearing a recorded breeze blowing while a video plays."

Both Mattox and Campbell hope the Freedom Center increases interest in underground railroad history, thus helping to promote the work they've been doing for years.

Campbell is trustee president for ripley Heritage Inc., which is involved in staffing the Rankin House state historical site and renovating the riverfront home of John Parker.

"Once people have seen the Freedom Center and learned a little about the underground railroad, I'm hoping they'll come up U.S. 52 to see Ripley, where a lot of the history happened," she said. "We're only an hour away."

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NOTE: John Mattox's Underground Railroad Museum is approximately 23 miles west northwest of Wheeling, West Virginia - West on Interstate 70 to Exit 213 -- North on Ohio State Route 331 to Flushing.

From Columbus, Ohio (116 miles - 2 hours) - Zanesville, Ohio (62 miles - 1 hour) -- East on Interstate 70 to Exit 208 -- North on Ohio State Route 149 to Flushing.

The Underground Railroad Foundation
Curator: John S. Mattox
206 High Street
P.O. Box 47
Flushing, Ohio 43977

Museum: 740-968-2080
Home: 740-968-6113
Email: ugrrf@ugrrf.org
Web Sites:

http://www.ugrrf.org

and

http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/mattox.htm

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