Visit the National Underground Railroad Museum

With the summer travel season over, museums around the country expect to see smaller crowds but no less enthusiastic. Just miles from the Ohio River sits the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. It is one of Cincinnati’s tourism jewels and humanity’s beacons of light.

“I really don’t understand how people back in that time could be so heartless and cruel to human beings,” said Susan Cunningham as she toured the Center’s main exhibit which is dedicated to slavery. “There was one picture in there that just kind of blew me away when I first came in. It was of a young boy that looked to be about 12-years-old or 13. It just kind of reminded me of someone who I have in my life, one of my grandsons. Just looking at the eyes in that picture did something to my soul.”

Much of the Center, which opened in 2004, recognizes the role of the Underground Railroad in helping thousands of slaves to escape to freedom. Exhibits explain who the enslaved were, how they were treated and who their allies were. Regardless of race, those who visit are often visibly moved.

As she held back tears, Dela Murphy said, “My experience here is a deepening of my understanding of slavery, its history throughout the world, and also the modern reality of slavery in the world.”

In 2017 the organization, Human Rights First , estimated that more than 24 million people around the world were victims of modern human trafficking. The Underground Railroad Freedom Center also acknowledges that reality with an exhibit titled, Invisible. There is also a tribute to Nelson Mandela, Mandela: The Journey to Ubuntu, which will be on exhibit through January 2019.

Christopher Williams is a contributor for TheVillageCelebration. He is a graduate of Wright University. Christopher is a devout Christian who enjoys traveling.