Underground Railroad Museum

Today I went to the Freedom Center in Cincinnati, a multi million dollar museum dedicated to the history of slavery and the underground railroad. I was highly disappointed. I was looking forward to interesting exibits with artifacts and stuff. Instead what I encountered was a number of theaters showing documentaries about slavery and countless things to read. Not that I am against reading or watching documentaries, but if I wanted to read about slavery I would go pick up some books (which I have done) and I can see slavery documentaries every February (so sad). I wanted to see some existing history. It wasn't all bad though. There were 2 exibits that were nicely done which included actual shackles, recovered items from a sunken slave ship, an actual relocated slave cabin from somewhere (we didn't get a chance to go inside because there was a class of high school students inside and they were taking too long) and other period pieces. After about an hour of complaining we decided to leave (so glad I didn't pay in the first place) but not before upgrading our tickets so that we could come back another day when we have more time to watch the movies and read everything they want you to read. The gift shop has a lot of great things in it, just very overpriced IMO so you know I walked out empty handed. The only official complaint I had was to the giftshop ladies. While they were very nice (as was all the staff we encountered at the museum) I was unhappy to see a section on homosexuality and their issues in the book section of the shop. I didn't think their struggle had any business being looped in with ours. For that reason alone I may not purchase anything from the shop when I return. Anyway, if you get the chance to go to the museum I recommend clearing several hours for movie watching and anecdote reading but don't expect too much in the visual.

[JamieC]

Sounds like a nice place to visit. But you would think they'd keep it factual and to the point as opposed to throwing in the other stuff that's not pertainable to us.

[MadameX]

Originally Posted by JamieC

But you would think they'd keep it factual and to the point as opposed to throwing in the other stuff that's not pertainable to us.

Hmmmm. You would think. But, if you are aware of the racial climate of the city in which the mueseum is located in then, you wouldn't be surprised at all.

[MadameX]

Originally Posted by Ankhesenamun

I don't really expect that you would make any progress with the government offices

Your assessment is correct. Cincinnati is a city with one of the strongest KKK memberships and is known to be overly biased.