FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 31, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT: Cody Hefner (513) 608-5777, chefner@nurfc.org
Freedom Center celebrates International Underground Railroad Month
Film, author lecture and more celebrate the enduring legacy of the Underground Railroad
CINCINNATI – September is International Underground Railroad Month in Ohio and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is hosting multiple events to mark the occasion. The museum is offering free admission on September 10, as well as poetry readings, a film screening and welcoming a bestselling author later in the month to honor the Underground Railroad’s enduring legacy. Plus, through September 16, guests can enjoy $3 off admission to the Freedom Center.
As freedom seekers crossed the swollen Ohio River into the free state of Ohio, conductors and communities along the river and throughout the state helped by providing food from their pantries, leaking rowboats and creaking wagons to move them through the state and shelter for exhausted, freezing families. With courage, cooperation and perseverance, freedom seekers risked their lives to cross natural, social and legislative barriers in pursuit of freedom. The Freedom Center is rooted in these stories, punctuated by its location on the banks of the Ohio River.
“The Freedom Center stands on the doorstep of freedom for thousands who not only dreamed but dared to pursue their freedom,” said Woodrow Keown, Jr., president & COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “The Underground Railroad was the nation’s first large scale social justice movement, traveled and facilitated by so many whose names were forgotten. We give voice to these heroes in hopes that a new generation will have the courage to begin their own freedom journey or to be a conductor to those self-liberating.”
Fifth Third Community Day – Sunday, September 10
The Freedom Center is offering free admission on Sunday, September 10 as part of their Fifth Third Community Days, made possible by the Fifth Third Foundation. As part of the day’s activities, Poets Against Racism & Hate will host two free poetry workshops to discuss social justice issues and how you can transform your reaction into a poem. Space in the poetry workshops is limited but you can register for the morning session in advance; the afternoon session will be first come, first served. Poets Against Racism & Hate will also host prominent local poets for poetry readings in the Harriet Tubman Theater. For those looking to flex different artistic muscles, local artist Brent Billingsley will be leading a public art project throughout the day.
For those looking to learn more about the region’s role in the Underground Railroad, the Freedom Center will host groups from John Parker House, John Rankin House, Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Boone County Historical Society, Erlanger Elsmere Historical Society, Preble County District Library and Springboro Historical Society.
Walk-up tickets for the Fifth Third Community Day are available but reserving your free tickets online in advance is recommended.
Freedom Film Series: A Higher Law: The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858 – Thursday, September 14
A Higher Law: The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858 retells the incredible story that kept the issue of slavery and the cause of abolition at the forefront of national discussion in the years before the Civil War.
Since its statehood, slavery was outlawed in Ohio. But, despite its prominent role in the Underground Railroad and the first free soil north of the Ohio River, enslaved people did not find freedom in the state. Nor did the conductors who helped them through the state to Canada. In 1858, 37 Ohio residents were arrested and charged with violating the Fugitive Slave Act after they, along with over 500 of their fellow citizens, freed an enslaved man who had been captured by slave catchers in Oberlin, Ohio. The freedom-seeking man, John Price, had escaped two years earlier before being abducted and imprisoned in nearby Wellington. A Higher Law: The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858 is a film of courageous, righteous abolition on the wrong side of the law.
Join producers Scott Spears and Christina Paolucci following the screening for a discussion and Q&A.
The film screening is free, but registration is required.
Freedom Lecture with Kristen Green, author of The Devil’s Half Acre – September 27
New York Times-bestselling author Kristen Green visits the Freedom Center to discuss her latest book, The Devil’s Half Acre: The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South’s Most Notorious Slave Jail. Drawing on years of research, Green tells the remarkable story of Mary Lumpkin, who was born into hell but transformed it into heaven.
Lumpkin was born enslaved on a plantation in Virginia, enduring its horrors – including being forced to bear her enslaver’s children – in the slave jail known as “Devil’s Half Acre.” Upon the enslaver’s death, however, Lumpkin inherited the jail, and transformed it into what would become Virginia Union University, one of the country’s first Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The half-acre that once stole Black men’s dreams now became a place where they could be fulfilled.
Green will sign copies of her book following the lecture. Copies of The Devil’s Half Acre will be available for purchase.
The lecture is free, but registration is required.
