By James Thompson
CINCINNATI, OHIO – The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, nestled between the Bengals’ and Reds’ stadiums in downtown Cincinnati overlooking the Ohio River, is a beacon of hope and progress for working people everywhere. Open since 2004, it is a tribute to those brave people who struggled for freedom and justice against the oppressive system of slavery.
The structure itself is very impressive and the design is symbolic of the winding path to freedom taken by the slaves. It is located at the end of the historic Roebling Suspension Bridge which spans the Ohio River. The Ohio River marked the line separating slavery from freedom during the antebellum period. A beautiful, south-facing glass wall overlooks the Ohio River and Kentucky.
I visited the museum with some pride since I have ancestors who served as conductors on the Underground Railroad in Missouri.
As I entered the exhibition area of the museum after climbing some winding stairs, my attention was seized by two massive textile works. The works are by Aminah Brenda Lynn and illustrate the struggles of the African people on their path to freedom from slavery. The work depicts the struggles against the transatlantic slave trade as well as local struggles in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. Cincinnati and Ripley, Ohio were two of the most important locations in the history of slavery in this country. They were the points at which slaves were shipped to the south and the points through which the slaves had to pass on their journey to Canada, where the exploitive capitalist slavery practices were prohibited.
The next compelling work was a huge mural started by Tom Feelings and completed by Tyrone Geter after Feelings death. From the artist’s statement, “The central image depicts the confinement of an individual in the Mason County Slave Pen. The surrounding images depict the arrival into America, slave auction, family separation, forced coffle marches, and slave labor in the forests of Tennessee and cotton fields of Missipppi. The remaining images provide additional details of the interstate slave trade.”
This work leads to a reconstructed slave pen from Maysville, Kentucky. Owned by John W. Anderson in the early 1830s, it provides a look at the horrific conditions that slaves were forced to endure. There were bars on the windows and slaves were frequently left with no choice but to relieve themselves while shackled in place. It is a clear example of how slavery robbed these brave people of their dignity. John Anderson owned a racing stable and lived a luxurious lifestyle as a result of the profits he extracted from these workers’ labor and the sale of human beings.
Throughout the museum are the images of the leaders of the progressive movement including Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, Pete Seeger, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Harriot Tubman, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison and many more. Inspirational quotations were also prominently displayed from many of these individuals.
The importance of “courage, cooperation, and perseverance” are stressed in the struggle for freedom.
The multicultural and multiethnic nature of the struggle against slavery was a notable theme through the museum’s exhibitions. The contributions of African-Americans, Anglos, Latinos and Native Americans to this struggle were memorialized.
Several movie theaters helped illustrate the struggle against slavery. One film, “Brothers of the Borderland” was introduced by Oprah Winfrey. It was the story of how two leaders of the Underground Railroad in Ripley, Ohio cooperated to help slaves escape across the Ohio River. John Parker was a former slave who was a successful metal worker and inventor. John Rankin was an Anglo religious leader. In the video, the two worked together to help a woman start her journey to Canada after crossing the Ohio River. The film depicts the terrorism which was used against the slaves and their allies. The slave owners made frequent raids across the Ohio River in an effort to recapture escaped slaves which they viewed as their lost property. They were supported by the laws of the land at the time and anyone assisting an escaped slave was viewed as a thief and was subject to prosecution, even in the North.
It is important to remember the progress we have made in this country to reach a point where we can support this remarkable museum. I think it is also important to remember that in spite of the progress, capitalists have still not relinquished their affinity for slavery. Slavery is still a business practice used around the world and a few individuals are reaping fantastic profits from it. Although union-busting and red baiting are terrorist tactics used against working people in this country, more destructive tactics are used in other countries such as Colombia and Guatemala. Violence and executions in those countries are used against trade unionists and labor leaders in an effort to keep workers in virtual slavery with extremely low wages and little, if any, benefits. Some maintain that these slave-like conditions are not far from our border and if we fail to struggle against the profit-centered corporations, slavery and terrorism could be revived here. Of course, low wage workers in this country now, such as undocumented immigrants, may be hard put to find differences between their lives and those of the slaves south of the Ohio River during the antebellum period.
The fuels of progress are unity and struggle and this marvelous museum exemplifies this concept. When in Cincinnati don’t miss the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
For more information, go to http://www.freedomcenter.org/
James Thompson is a psychologist and social justice activist in Houston
