A San Diego Union Tribune columnist, Michael Stetz, explores the confounding question of how it is that one of the nation’s top academic institutions can have among its students people who are so stone deaf to history that they can’t even grasp the frightful symbolism of a noose.  Here’s an earlier blog on the incident.

On such noose was found in UCSD’s main library last week, and the student who left it there, writing anonymously to the school paper, said the connotation of it as a symbol of hate never occurred to her. Which others find unbelievable.  “Nooses are regularly left as icons of intimidation,” Stetz quoted Jonathan Markovitz, a UCSD graduate and author of the book, “Legacies of Lynching: Racial Violence and Memory.” “They are the single most vivid symbol of racial terrorism and oppression, as they not only invoke but celebrate the power of the mob.”

The column goes on to offer the comments of Freedom Center CEO Don Murphy, a UCSD grad who happened to be on campus last weekend to make a presentation on Black History Month.  Stetz quotes Murphy on what he thinks is the cause of the historical ignorance:  serious gaps in education about our national past.

All of which underscores the relevance of the Freedom Center’s current exhibition about lynching, “Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America.”  Perhaps, if it could be arranged, UCSD could bring the exhibit to campus and help its bright, eager students learn something about a dark chapter of American history.

Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America is receiving strongly positive initial reviews by the local news media and online bloggers.   In the words of blogger David Bowman, the exhibition is “educational, painful and powerful.”

Disclaimer:  The Freedom Center invited a group of active and influential social media commentators (you could call them “gurus) to a sneak peek of Without Sanctuary.  Our purpose was straightforward — to help generate a community-wide discussion about the exhibition and its relevance and meaning to contemporary audiences.  Our ground rules were simple:  there were no ground rules.  Each of the dozen bloggers who accepted our invite could write and post whatever they wanted, good, bad or indifferent.

From what’s been posted so far, the exhibition’s graphic (often grisly) lynching images evoke strong feelings and a range of emotions.  Here’s Michael R’s description:

“To say it was compelling would be a massive understatement. Over and over again, I was given a chance to bear witness and understand how awful and massively prevalent lynchings were. The message was clear: it didn’t just happen in the South, it wasn’t a few isolated nutters, it wasn’t just men, and it wasn’t just African-Americans.”

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The Freedom Center’s new exhibition, Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, opened today following months of behind-the-scenes preparation and training.  Reactions of initial visitors to the exhibition ranged from “overwhelming” and “important” to “emotionally and physically moving.”

The exhibit, which will be on display through May 31, features some 80 photographs taken at lynching events around the nation from the 1880’s to the 1960’s.  Some of the photos were used on postcards sent in the mail as if depicting a family outing.  Detailed information about the exhibit is available online here.

At a reception and preview event on the evening of January 18, some 300 people were told about how the horror of lynching reverberates through contemporary society in the form of hate crimes — such as the placement of nooses in offices, as a form of intimidation and disrespect.  But, as Freedom Center CEO Donald Murphy told the reception audience, “just as hate can pop up anywhere, like a weed, so too can the spirit of hope and reconciliation.”  Here is coverage of the preview event by our media partner, WKRC-TV, Local 12.

One clarification:  the Freedom Center is not restricting attendance to people over age 14.  We are strongly cautioning parents and caregivers that the images may be too intense for children.  Students coming to the Freedom Center on school field trips must be at least 14 to see Without Sanctuary, and they must have written parental permission.

Among the first to see the exhibition was a group of social media bloggers, who have begun posting their thoughts about how to extend the discussion of the themes of Without Sanctuary into the digital space of the Internet.  Their posts on Twitter can be found by searching #NURFC.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and its Senior Exhibition Partners, including BRIDGES for a Just Community, the Ohio Chapter of the NAACP, and the Urban League of Cincinnati, announced today a collaborative partnership to present an exhibition on the history of lynching in America from the 1870s to the 1960s.

The exhibition, entitled Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, will be on display from January 19 through May 31, 2010 in the Freedom Center’s Jack H. Skirball Changing Exhibit Gallery.  Related educational materials and programs will be available online at www.freedomcenter.org and an extensive series of programs is being scheduled to coincide with the exhibition.

Without Sanctuary was previously shown — to large crowds — in New York City, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Jackson MS and Atlanta.  The exhibition’s centerpiece is a collection of photographs, postcards and memorabilia that were taken at various lynching events in the United States in the early decades of the 20^th Century. These images, many of which were made into postcards and sent through the mail, often depicted crowds of onlookers who appear to be celebrating the brutal spectacle. Although the killings were not confined to a period, place, or race, an estimated 5,000 African-Americans died by lynching between 1882 and 1968.

Donald Murphy, the Freedom Center’s CEO and President, said the Freedom Center has three goals in showing Without Sanctuary: (more…)

The Freedom Center will be the site of a permanent section of the Berlin Wall.

Mayor Mark Mallory announced today that a piece of the Berlin Wall would be permanently displayed on the Southwest lawn of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The 12 ft by 4ft piece of the Berlin Wall, weighing two tons, is a gift to the City of Cincinnati from the City of Berlin. The area around the wall will become part of an outdoor learning exhibit on the Wall’s historical significance.

“The Freedom Center sits on the banks of the Ohio River, another barrier to freedom that eventually fell,” Mallory said. “It is natural that this institution that celebrates freedom should serve as the home for another symbol of the ongoing struggle for freedom and justice.”

The Munich Sister City Association of Greater Cincinnati, the Honorary Consul of Germany in Cincinnati, and other individuals have worked with the City of Berlin to bring the piece of wall to Cincinnati. A Berlin Wall Site Selection Committee convened to evaluate prospective site locations.

“The Freedom Center is tremendously honored to be chosen as the location for the Berlin Wall monument,” said Donald Murphy, CEO of the Freedom Center. “Like the Freedom Center itself, this section of the wall is a testament to freedom and the power of the human spirit.”

Twenty years ago today, Cincinnati formally entered into a Sister City agreement with the city of Munich. On September 18, 1989, when the agreement was signed, the world was witnessing the collapse of East Germany. Less than two months later, the Berlin Wall officially fell.

On August 13, 1961, the government of East Germany split Berlin in half with a wall of concrete. Over the years, many people were killed attempting to escape to West Berlin through this brutal barrier to freedom. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. During that autumn, hundreds of thousands of East Germans peacefully marched in opposition to the oppressive regime, courageous acts of resistance inspired by the American civil-rights movement.

The same model bus like the one Rosa Parks rode to and from work in Montgomery, AL until the day in 1955 when she refused to move to the back of the bus for a white passenger, will be on display in front of the Freedom Center in the week leading up to Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights game.

The bus, #209, is owned and operated by the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK).  It will be parked in front of the Freedom Center’s main entrance each day from June 16 through June 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Visitors can board and sit in the bus. Its appearance also coincides with the Freedom Center’s current exhibit, “381 Days: the Montgomery Bus Boycott,” which traces the events surrounding Mrs. Parks’ historic protest, which ushered in the non-violent American civil rights movement.

“We are pleased and gratified that TANK is making the 1950-era bus, like the one Rosa Parks made famous, available to help the community celebrate the American civil rights movement,” said Donald Murphy, the Freedom Center’s Chief Executive Officer.  “TANK graciously put the bus on display in front of the Freedom Center in 2005, to commemorate the passing of Mrs. Parks, and it was enormously popular with our guests.  We think it will add a poignant element to the festivities leading up to the Civil Rights game.”

Bus #209 was manufactured in 1950 by General Motors, and operated in Northern Kentucky on Greenline routes.  The bus eventually was sold and for a time operated in Seattle, WA, where TANK recovered the vehicle in 2001, brought it back to Northern Kentucky and restored it to its original condition.  It is one of three historic vehicles that have been refurbished by TANK maintenance employees.

TANK uses #209 for community events and as an education tool, says TANK Deputy General Manager, Andrew Aiello.

“This bus helps young people better understand an earlier time, when segregation divided whites and blacks in nearly every facet of everyday life – including riding the bus,” Aiello said.  “Thankfully, local public transit systems in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati fought successfully against compliance with state-mandated segregation beginning as far back as 1916, when rail car transportation was in its heyday.  Through legal tactics and finesse, the local transit companies were able to evade state-mandated segregation on the rail cars and then buses, including Bus #209,” he added.

The Freedom Center’s current exhibition, 381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story, tells the stirring history of the very beginning of America’s Civil Rights movement.

The exhibition runs through mid-July in the Jack H. Skirball Gallery.  Using photographs, old television news footage and eyewitness accounts, 381 Days is anchored in the courageous decision in 1955 by a mild-mannered seamstress named Rosa Parks not to move to the back of the Montgomery City Bus that carried her to and from work every day. Her refusal not to move was the opening salvo in what quickly became an organized, grassroots boycott of all the Alabama Capitol’s metropolitan buses. That moment marked the beginning of the end of Jim Crow segregation as African Americans and freedom-loving whites joined hands to seek human justice and civil rights for all citizens.

Coincidental to the exhibit, Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights Game will be played on June 20 at Great American Ball Park, right next door to the Freedom Center and the home of the Cincinnati Reds.  They will play the Chicago White Sox in inter-league action. The game, which honors baseball’s contributions to the struggle for civil rights, will be preceded by several events, including a roundtable discussion at the Freedom Center on June 19.  Also on tap at noon on the day of the game, MLB’s Beacon Awards Luncheon is scheduled at the Duke Energy Center.  Honorees this year are Muhammad Ali, Bill Cosby, and Henry (Hank) Aaron.  Tickets for the luncheon are available through the Reds, at www.reds.com.

381 Days was developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the Troy University Rosa Parks Library and Museum, with funding support from AARP. Local sponsors of the exhibit are Luxottica, Cintas, Cincinnati Metro and Catholic Healthcare Partners.

Local public radio station WVXU’s weekly “Around Cincinnati” program featured an in-depth interview with the Freedom Center’s Dina Bailey, who explained the meaning and significance of the Freedom Center’s new exhibit, entitled “Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art.”

To hear the interview, click on this link to access the Around Cincinnati online home page. Scroll about halfway down the page and click on the “Grass Roots” link.

The exhibit opens to the general public on Tuesday, February 10, and will be here through April 20.

Around Cincinnati airs on Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. on WVXU, 91.7.

The Covington, KY Artisans Enterprise Center, just across the Ohio River from the Freedom Center, is presenting a one-day exhibit of the work of four African artists.  The twist is that the artists themselves will be on hand to explain and convey stories about their work.

The show, entitled “Thinking Through Reality,” is from 6 – 10 p.m. On Friday, Feb. 6, at the Covington Artisans Enterprise Center, located at 25 West 7th St. .  It is the first of a series of presentations on African arts and culture that will take place at the Center until February 20.

More information is available at this link.

The most prominent icon of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is the two-story Slave Pen. The structure’s rough-hewn log walls and stark interior echo a dark chapter in American history when enslaved men, women and children were moved from place to place like dry goods merchandise. The Slave Pen, which was discovered on a tobacco farm in Mason County, KY, is a haunting artifact of antebellum slave trading, and the most visited part of the Freedom Center visitor experience.

The Milwaukee Journal’s article about the Slave Pen provides a fresh and powerful look at the building and its history.

The exhibit provides a succinct yet masterfully comprehensive review of Abraham Lincoln’s brief term as President.  It was a time fraught with unparalleled challenges, any one of which would have overwhelmed even the most capable of leaders. That Lincoln was able — with sheer determination and incomparable vision — to steer a course that brought the nation through a bitter civil war, preserved the Constitution, and set in motion the abolition of slavery is one of history’s watershed accomplishments.

Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War last day at the Freedom Center is Sunday, January 11th.

As a gift from Pampers, admission to the Freedom Center is free for each of the concert days.  Pre-booked groups are not eligible for the free admission.