Steal away: new efforts to tell the story of the Underground Railroad reveal much about the American struggle for freedom.What do we really know about the Underground Railroad Underground Railroad, in U.S. history, loosely organized system for helping fugitive slaves escape to Canada or to areas of safety in free states. It was run by local groups of Northern abolitionists, both white and free blacks. , or think we know? Maybe snatches of stories told about Harriet Tubman's forays into the southland to escort runaways through dark forests and over rivers. Maybe whispered rumors that a certain house once sheltered sojourners. Because secrecy was the point of this form of resistance to slavery, it is no wonder most of us have not known more. As Frederick Douglass wrote in his second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom My Bondage and My Freedom is an autobiographical slave narrative written by Frederick Douglass and published in 1855. Douglass was a former slave who became a prominent abolitionist, a free man, and a successful author. , (1855; Washington Square Press edition, May 2003), after one doomed and one successful grab for freedom: "How I got away--in what direction I traveled--whether by land or by water; whether with or without assistance--must for reasons already mentioned, remain unexplained." With the opening last summer of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the publication of a flood of new books, this important pillar of our history is being recast, filling in the gaps of our knowledge.--A.P.D. Gateway to Liberty Opens in Cincinnati The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which opened in August 2004 in Cincinnati, Ohio “Cincinnati” redirects here. For other uses, see Cincinnati (disambiguation). Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. , on the northern bank of the Ohio River Ohio River Major river, eastern central U.S. Formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, it flows northwest out of Pennsylvania, and west and southwest to form the state boundaries of Ohio–West Virginia, Ohio-Kentucky, Indiana-Kentucky, and , serves as a beacon, an emotional lighthouse for a time in the United States' history where ownership of human chattel chattel (chăt`əl), in law, any property other than a freehold estate in land (see tenure). A chattel is treated as personal property rather than real property regardless of whether it is movable or immovable (see property). was legalized. It honors those who fought against it, using a system built on faith and like-minded people who believed no one should be owned. Within its first month of opening, more than 30,000 people visited the museum, examining its many exhibits and viewing Suite for Freedom, a film that explores three basic themes: unfreedom, slavery and freedom. The intensity of slavery is brought home when visitors view the two-story slave pen donated to the museum by a Kentucky farmer. The slave pen serves as the defining artifact for the center. "The emotional connection that Americans have to personal stories of freedom, combined with innovative and imaginative methods of storytelling will make this one of the nation's most memorable museum experiences ever," says Dr. Spencer Crew, executive director of the Freedom Center. The Freedom Center is more than a museum, but a modern-day home for "freedom seekers" or "freedom conductors" who respect human dignity, engage in honest and open dialogue, and act with courage to support the long journey to freedom for all people. Most scholars agree that as many as 40 percent of all fugitive slaves escaping enslavement en·slave tr.v. en·slaved, en·slav·ing, en·slaves To make into or as if into a slave. en·slave  ment n. crossed the Ohio River, making Cincinnati the gateway to more than 500 Underground Railroad routes that cut through Ohio-one of the most traveled states in the nation. Before 1863, the Underground Railroad was a system of cooperation among African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. slaves, free African Americans, abolitionists, sympathetic whites and Native Americans to help slaves escape their bonds and claim the promise of freedom. This informal system arose as a loosely constructed network of escape routes that originated in the South, intertwined throughout the North, but also extended into western territories, Mexico and the Caribbean. The Freedom Center is also supposed to serve as a threshold to other Underground Railroad sites This is a list of sites by state on the Underground Railroad: Colorado
The restoration of the John P. Parker Museum in Ripley, Ohio, is one of the few Underground Railroad sites that have benefited from the National Park Service grant. Although struggling to remain afloat, the Network features more than 150 sites and interpretive programs in 26 states and Washington, D.C. The sites range from Fort Donelson National Battlefield Fort Donelson National Battlefield preserves Fort Donelson and Fort Heiman, two sites of the American Civil War Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign, in which Union General Ulysses S. in Tennessee to the privately owned John Brown's headquarters in Maryland. In addition, the United States National Slavery Museum This article or section contains information about a planned museum. It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the construction and/or completion of the museum approaches. , proposed by former Virginia Governor L. Douglass Wilder, is planned for a site in Fredericksburg, Virginia, scheduled for opening in 2007. Its board of directors include historian John Hope Franklin Noun 1. John Hope Franklin - United States historian noted for studies of Black American history (born in 1915) Franklin and Bill Cosby. Andria Y. Carter is the business editor at the Trentonian newspaper. She lives in Ewing, New Jersey. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion