Freedom Center nominated one of nation's top history museums
Vote online through February 13 to put the Freedom Center on top
CINCINNATI, OH (January 16, 2023) — The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is in the running for the nation’s best history museum for the third year in a row. USA TODAY’s 10Best recently released their list of nominees for the nation’s 10 Best History Museums. Twenty history museums from across the nations are among the finalists for the award – including another local museum, Cincinnati Museum Center’s Cincinnati History Museum – which will be decided following a four-week online vote. Voting is open now at www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-history-museum-2023/national-underground-railroad-freedom-center-cincinnati-ohio/. Voting ends at 11:59 a.m. EST February 13.
The USA TODAY 10Best Reader’s Choice Awards finalists are selected by a panel of experts and editors. This is the third straight year the Freedom Center has been announced as a finalist for the award. The Cincinnati museum finished second 2021 and third in 2022. 
“We are honored to once again be recognized alongside some of the top history museums in the country,” said Woodrow Keown, Jr., president and COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “Being acknowledged for now the third time is a testament to the work we do and the importance of the stories we share. It shows how relevant this history remains and the critical role museums like ours play in weaving and preserving the fabric of our shared cultural heritage. We hope supporters locally and around the country vote to help us be recognized as not the second or third best, but the best history museum in the country.”
The Freedom Center is a nationally-accredited museum by the American Alliance of Museums, a distinction held by just 6% of museums nationwide. Since its opening in 2004, it has shared stories of freedom’s heroes from the era of the Underground Railroad to modern day. The museum is located on the banks of the Ohio River, where many enslaved people took their first steps on free soil after self-liberating through the Underground Railroad in the mid-1800s. Through immersive, thought-provoking exhibits, programming and films the Freedom Center continues to be a convener of dialogue around issues of freedom, the denial of freedom, systemic racism, implicit bias and modern-day enslavement. During a visit, guests are introduced to freedom conductors including Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, John Rankin, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Box Brown, Margaret Garner and the millions whose names have long been forgotten.
Each person can vote one time per day, per email. Voting closes February 13 at 11:59 a.m. You can vote at www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-history-museum-2023/national-underground-railroad-freedom-center-cincinnati-ohio/.
For more information about the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, visit freedomcenter.org.
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About the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in August 2004 on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Since then, more than 1.3 million people have visited its permanent and changing exhibits and public programs, inspiring everyone to take courageous steps for freedom. Two million people have utilized educational resources online at freedomcenter.org, working to connect the lessons of the Underground Railroad to inform and inspire today’s global and local fight for freedom. Partnerships include Historians Against Slavery, Polaris Project, Free the Slaves, US Department of State and International Justice Mission. In 2014, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center launched a new online resource in the fight against modern slavery, endslaverynow.org.
