National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC) is a museum and cultural learning center in Cincinnati, Ohio, which uses the history of the Underground Railroad and subsequent racial and civil rights struggles for the purpose of “promoting social justice for all.” ¹

Background

The Center was incorporated in 1995. It officially opened to the public with a celebration in 2004, with 20,000 people attending its opening ceremony. After a year of being opened, it received 280,000 visitors from all 50 states and 35 countries. In 2008, the Center was awarded two grants from the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH), a federal agency of the U.S. government. It merged with the Cincinnati Museum Center in 2012. ²

Activities

In addition to operating its year-round museum, the Center also hosts numerous events on left-of-center social justice and the history of racism. For Black History Month in 2022, the NURFC had an exhibit on the history of slavery from the transatlantic slave trade to the 13^th amendment. ³

The NURFC also hosts exhibits weighing in on contemporary issues. From October 2021 to March 2022, the Center presented works from artist Luba Lukova on what it called “the complexities of our time” such as “income equality, immigration, war and peace, the environment and more” to “inspire guests to be a force for good in the world.” ⁴

The NURFC invites users to take an “Implicit Association Test” on its website, an online exam developed with the museum’s “Open Your Mind: Understanding Implicit Bias learning lab” which is supposed to test one’s “implicit biases.” It defines implicit biases as underlying racist beliefs which “two decades of scientific research” have allegedly proven many individuals to harbor “even if we seem to hold no explicit prejudice.” The test asks questions that aim to determine how many stereotypes about social groups one believes in, stereotypes which NURFC claims “society is saturated with.” ⁵

The Center’s “Teen Docent Program” aims to teach Cincinnati high school students about the history of civil rights and the connection between the Underground Railroad “with the social justice movements of today.” It was founded in 2003 with the Cincinnati Chapter of Links, Inc., a racial justice education nonprofit. ⁶

The NURFC has resources about the existence of modern-day slavery in the forms of human trafficking and the sex-slave trade on its website. It aims to educate people on the existence of modern slavery and how to get involved in ending it, such as donating to the “End Slavery Now” project. ^{7 8}

Teachers and school leaders are offered to partner with the Center to be provided with support in educating students in historical and modern-day slavery. ⁹

Funding

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center lists the United States Department of Education, Google, and the Procter and Gamble Company among its financial supporters. ¹⁰ In 2008, the Center was awarded two grants from the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH). ¹¹

According to 2018 tax filings, the NURFC had a total revenue of $3,648,128, total expenses of $5,117,302, and net assets of $30,831,854. ¹²

It is formally partnered with over 12 organizations, including the Smithsonian Affiliations; International Justice Mission; Polaris Project; Historians Against Slavery; Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives; the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, & Abolition at Yale University; and the Freedom Corridor. ¹³

Leadership

In 2020, philanthropist and investor Woodrow Keown, Jr. was named the president and chief operating officer of National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. ¹⁴ Keown has been involved with the Jordan Crossing, Bond Hill and Roselawn Revitalization Fund, Allen Temple AME Church, and Montgomery Community Church. He was a board member of the Dan Beard Council of Boy Scouts of America and was formerly an executive for multinational consumer goods corporation Procter and Gamble. He teaches mentorship classes at the Winton Hills Academy neighborhood school. ¹⁵

Pamela Dock is Keown’s executive administrative assistant. Before joining the NURFC, she spent almost 30 years working at Procter and Gamble with Keown. Christopher Miller, the senior director of education and community engagement, is a historian who advocates that the “complete narrative of America” cannot be properly taught without having students learn how to see through “the lens of the African American experience.” Miller was a fellow at the Institute for Freedom Studies studying the history of antebellum runaway slave ads before joining NURFC. ¹⁶

Kenneth B. Robinson, the chair of the board and director emeritus of the Center, also hails from Procter and Gamble where he led its global internal audit function as chief audit executive. ^{17 18} Other NURFC board members that had or have a professional relationship with Procter and Gamble include honorary co-chair John Pepper, director Damon Jones, and director Sundar Raman. ¹⁹

The NURFC’s National Advisory Council includes Jim Attwood of the Carlyle Group, Roy Bostock of Sealedge Investments, Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Kerry Kennedy of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, David Blight of Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center, Jim Greenbaum of the Greenbaum Foundation, Kelly Heinrich of the Global Freedom Center, and Andrew Young of the Andrew J. Young Foundation. ²⁰

1.  “Our History.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/history/.
2. “Our History.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/history/.
3. “Discover the Transatlantic Slave Trade to the 13^th Amendment.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/discover-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-to-the-13th-amendment/.
4. “Luba Lukova – Designing Justice.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/designingjustice/.
5. “Understanding Implicit Bias.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/learn/online-learning-resources/understanding-implicit-bias/.
6.  “Teen Docent Program.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/teendocentprogram/.
7. “Modern Abolition.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/learn/modern-day-abolition/.
8. “End Slavery Now – Resources.” End Slavery Now. Accessed 26 February 2022. https://www.endslaverynow.org/.
9.  “For Educators.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/learn/educators/.
10.  “Partners.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/our-partners/.
11.  “Our History.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/history/.
12.  Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. 2018. Part I, lines 12, 18, and 22.
13. “Partners.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/our-partners/.
14. “Our History.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/history/.
15.  “Leadership Team.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/leadership-team/.
16. “Leadership Team.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/leadership-team/.
17. “Board of Directors.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/board-of-directors/.
18. “Kenneth B. Robinson – Board of Trustees.” Financial Accounting Foundation. Accessed 26 February 2022. https://www.accountingfoundation.org/cs/ContentServer?c=FAFContent_C&cid=1176167754555&d=&pagename=Foundation%2FFAFContent_C%2FGeneralContentDisplay.
19. “Board of Directors.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/board-of-directors/.
20.  “National Advisory Council.” National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC). Accessed 26 February 2022. https://freedomcenter.org/about/national-advisory-council/.