Religion and social justice intersect in new exhibition at the Freedom Center
Freedom Center-produced Faith & (in)Justice exhibition opens May 23
CINCINNATI – In 1776, authors of the Declaration of Independence declared that “all men are created equal… and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” A new exhibition debuting at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is exploring how religion has been both an inspiration for change and a tool to justify oppression.
Faith & (in)Justice traces America’s two-and-a-half-century struggle for equity and the role of the country’s three largest religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism – in that struggle. The new exhibition, developed by the Freedom Center in partnership with Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC), opens its national tour in Cincinnati at the Freedom Center on May 23.
From the impact of slavery and the struggle for freedom and civil rights, to matters of gender and LGBTQ+ equality, economic parity and environmental justice, Faith & (in)Justice highlights the role of religion in the nation’s social justice movements. Through five sections, the exhibition challenges guests to rethink entrenched stereotypes of religion and to critically consider where faith and equity coincide and collide.
“For over two centuries, the faithful have stood on opposing sides of social justice movements in America, both appealing to a higher power that supports their cause. Faith & (in)Justice explores the ironic coexistence of these beliefs,” said Woodrow Keown, Jr., president & COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “We developed this exhibition not to settle who is right and who is wrong, but to open a dialogue and to challenge each of us to think what we, regardless of faith perspective, can do to realize the promise that we are truly created equal.”
The exhibition uses artifacts, photographs, moving images and music to immerse guests in foundational moments in the nation’s social justice struggle. Among the artifacts included in the exhibition are a pair of boxing gloves signed by Muhammad Ali who refused to be drafted for the Vietnam War because of his religious beliefs; a sample of lead-contaminated water from Flint, Michigan, where churches helped fill the civil services gap to provide clean water; a Ku Klux Klan robe owned by an Ohio Quaker family; and a facsimile of Thomas Jefferson’s The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, in which he cut and pasted passages from six copies of the New Testament. A recreated praise house, where enslaved people would gather on plantations in the South, surrounds guests as they learn about the early history of the Black Church.
After exploring the topics that “should not be talked about at the dinner table,” the exhibition invites guests to sit down at a dinner table to discuss the role and responsibility of faith groups in social justice movements.
The Freedom Center, in partnership with Cincinnati Museum Center, developed Faith & (in)Justice with partial support from Lilly Endowment Inc. through the Endowment’s Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative.
Following the exhibition’s run in Cincinnati, Faith & (in)Justice will begin a national tour scaled to large venues – similar to the Freedom Center’s presentation – and a version right-sized for religious and community centers.