Freedom for the Weekend: The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

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Freedom for the Weekend: The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

by Amanda Kloer

category: Freedom for the Weekend

Published November 13, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT

Well, it's Friday afternoon, and that means the weekend is almost here! W00t! Perhaps you're reading this blog because you're bored at work or school and you're thinking about what you want to do this weekend. How about spending part of your weekend fighting slavery? Each week I'll profile a different anti-trafficking nonprofit who you can connect with to help free slaves and prevent slavery around the world. So, spend a couple hours this weekend getting to know this nonprofit through their website, and then get involved!

This Week's Profile: The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

The Bottom Line: The Center reveals stories about freedom's heroes from the era of the Underground Railroad to contemporary times and challenges everyone to take courageous steps for freedom today. They connect 19th century slavery with modern slavery.

What They Do: Through both a physical center in Cincinatti, OH and an information-packed website, the center aims to educate people about the realities of both the role of the underground railroad in ending historical slavery and modern abolition of human trafficking. Maintaining their focus on personal stories as an important lens for history, they also allow families to research their genealogy and discover their ancestors.

What Can I Do?: You can support the center either by becoming a member or by making a donation. If you live in the Cincinnati area, you can also volunteer. You can also tap into their amazing resources for educators to teach yourself or others about slavery.

Why They Rock: The center connects 19th century and modern slavery together in one seamless understanding of this antediluvian human rights violation. Slavery has been in societies as long as we have had societies; we must learn from our past in order to look to a better future.

So now that you've got some basic information on the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, visit their website this weekend and get involved. And on Monday morning when everyone else is talking about sleeping in and watching tv over the weekend, you can say, "What did I do this weekend? Oh, just the usual- abolition of slavery."