The Cincinnati Post
August 21, 2004

FREEDOM CENTER
A beacon to the future
Celebration of light
welcomes river landmark

http://www.cincypost.com/

Monday night, on the Cincinnati and Covington banks of the Ohio, the thousands who forged courage with conviction in bringing escaping slaves to freedom will be honored at what promises to be a moving ceremony marking the dedication of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Capping three days of grand opening events and celebrations, Monday's 8 p.m. dedication ceremony will bring thousands of celebrities, dignitaries, scholars and others to the $80 million museum on downtown Cincinnati's central riverfront.

• Artifacts, videos, art capture era | http://www.cincypost.com/2004/08/21/see08-21-2004.html
• 1,500 to carry candles across river | http://www.cincypost.com/2004/08/21/candles08-21-2004.html
• Luminaries attending opening | http://www.cincypost.com/2004/08/21/celebs08-21-2004.html

---------------------------------------------------------------

A beacon to the future
Celebration of light welcomes
Freedom Center to banks of the Ohio

By Barry M. Horstman
Post staff reporter

It was called -- by Northerners and Southerners, whites and blacks, slaves and slave owners alike -- the Kentucky Borderland, and, in antebellum days, it fully lived up to that description.

A border is by definition a dividing line, and, in the pre-Civil War era, Kentucky -- specifically, the Ohio River that coursed hundreds of miles along the state's northern boundary -- was the edge of one of the widest chasms in America. It was no physical or geographic divide, but a legal and symbolic one.

COMPLETE TEXT at:

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/08/21/center08-21-2004.html

-----------------------------------------------------

Slavery to freedom
Museum artifacts, videos, art capture extraordinary era

By Barry M. Horstman
Post staff reporter

In terms of the traditional artifacts and exhibits typically found in museums, there is relatively little to see at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Yet visitors will find that they cannot possibly fully absorb all that the Freedom Center has to offer in a single visit.

That paradox seems most fitting for a museum dedicated to a movement that, contrary to its name, in most instances was neither underground nor had anything to do with a railroad.

The Freedom Center, executive director and CEO Spencer Crew acknowledges, is a most unusual museum, not so much a repository of historical objects as it is an examination of a vital chapter in American history and the very concept of freedom itself.

COMPLETE TEXT at:

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/08/21/see08-21-2004.html

----------------------------------------------------------------

'If we join together -- imagine the light'
1,500 to carry candles across the river

By Peggy Kreimer
Post staff reporter

As dusk falls Monday, two children, one black and one white, will press lit candles together to ignite the torch of freedom, which will lead a procession of 1,500 people from all walks of life across the Roebling Suspension Bridge in Covington to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.

The procession, studded with colorful flags and punctuated with the beat of African drums, Haitian dancers, Mariachi players, and a 600-voice choir, is the first of a two-part pageant of people and light that will help officially open the Freedom Center.

When the torch of freedom lights the Freedom Center's eternal flame, the torch bearer will return and find the bridge and Kentucky riverbank ablaze with thousands of flickering candles held by proud volunteers.

"It will signify the light of freedom that led people across the river," said organizer Thomas Courtney. "And now they can cross back into freedom."

COMPLETE TEXT at:

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/08/21/candles08-21-2004.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luminaries attending opening

By Barry M. Horstman
Post staff reporter

First lady Laura Bush, television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and rock star Bono head the list of celebrities expected to take part in the grand opening dedication of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Dozens of prominent figures from government, entertainment, business and academia will be in Cincinnati for the gala dinner, lectures and other events leading up to Monday's formal dedication ceremony at the museum on downtown Cincinnati's central riverfront.

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young and Reps. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Cleveland, will be among the public officials at Monday's dedication.

In addition to U2 singer Bono and Winfrey, who narrates one of the films shown at the Freedom Center, other entertainers scheduled to attend at least some of the events include pop artist Lionel Richie, rapper Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, actress Angela Bassett and actor Courtney Vance. TV personalities Harry Smith and Robin Roberts also will take part, as will former Cincinnatian Nick Lachey of boy band 98 Degrees, better known these days as the husband of pop star Jessica Simpson and the star of the MTV show "Newlyweds."

COMPLETE TEXT at:

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/08/21/celebs08-21-2004.html

-----------------------------------------------------

http://www.cincypost.com/