January 21, 2005
Black Cultural Center to sponsor trip to underground railroad center
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University's Black Cultural Center is sponsoring a trip on March 4-5 to Cincinnati to tour the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
"The underground railroad is a powerful part of our history," said BCC director Renee Thomas. "The tour of the freedom center brings to life the importance – and relevance – of struggles for freedom around the world."
The tour begins in Lafayette, Ind., where Angie Bowen from Tippecanoe County Historical Association will take participants to historic underground railroad sites in and around the area. A number of homes in Lafayette will be highlighted, along with a visit to Farmer's Institute, the site of a community of Quakers who were known for helping slaves.
In Cincinnati, the tour opens with a visit to a slave pen that was found less than 50 miles from the freedom center. Visitors will get a brief history of the internal slave trade nationally and in this region, and discover the story of this slave pen, its owners and the process of relocating and conserving the structure.
The tour also will include an exhibit called "From Slavery to Freedom," which traces 300 years of slavery in North America, and the "Everyday Freedom Heroes" exhibit, which uses interactive multimedia displays to tell stories of heroes of the past as well as in modern times.
Today's struggles for freedom are portrayed in a state-of-the-art multimedia experience called "The Struggle Continues." Through the use of individual stories, this area illustrates cooperative actions that changed unequal treatment of African-Americans and others.
The last stop in the freedom center tour is "Reflect, Respond, Resolve" where visitors can learn ways to become engaged in today's efforts for freedom.
The two-day excursion concludes with a matinee of the Tony Award winning musical "Ain't Misbehavin'," produced by the Cincinnati Black Theatre Company, a non-profit organization that includes professional leaders, educators and visual artists from various racial and cultural backgrounds.
Preregistration deadline for the tour is Feb. 18. The cost is $100 for the general public and $35 for Purdue students. Registration fees cover transportation, lodging and admission to the freedom center and the matinee. Call (765) 494-3092 for more information or to preregister.
Writer: Maggie Morris, (765) 494-2432, maggiemorris@purdue.edu
Sources: Renee Thomas, (765) 494-3091, rathomas@purdue.edu
Angie Bowen, (765) 476-8411, ext. 203, angela@tcha.mus.in.us
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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