Underground Railroad



As usual for me in museums, I spent more time than expected in the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Kneeling down in a slave pen, a kind of warehouse for human beings, and holding iron shackles in your hand, it's hard to grasp how real this was. Or rather, is, since slavery is still around in many parts of the world. In fact, never in human history have more people lived in a state of slavery than now. It's just hard to understand how emotionally dead people have to be to be able to do this to others.

Another powerful image was the "packing plan" for a slave ship of the Atlantic slave trade, shown on the left. It was used by opponents to slavery in Great Britain to gain support for their cause. Slaves were packed in a tight pattern just like cargo, in spaces just high enough for a human body to lie in. Sometimes they were allowed to walk on deck for a few minutes in order to not die. The trade off was between tighter packing for transporting more slaves and minimizing loss of valuable "goods" to death.

The center is located in Cincinnati since the city was a major hub in the slave trade before the north abolished slavery, and later the Ohio River marked the fault line between slave states and freedom.

The Underground Railroad was really impressive. I've heard of it before, but this rather brought it to life by fleshing out the details. It was a network of helpers providing food, money, hiding places, safehouses, guidance etc to runaway slaves, at the risk of losing their livelihoods, imprisonment, and even death. They consisted of people from all walks of life, white, black, all across the country. I don't use the word very often, but they truly were heroes.

After the museum, I made a short ride to Lexington, Kentucky, and got into heavy rain. I'm talking SOAKED, here. In fact, as my towel in my bag was wet in part, I hung it up to dry in the room. The next morning, it was actually wetter from the moisture my clothes were spreading. After that ride, the hot shower was great.