Skift Take
Unlike lots of Americans eager to avoid any discusses of slavery, Stephanie Lampkin believes it’s vital to resolve how its legacy is still driving the widespread inequality plaguing the U.S.– a point she makes every effort to make to visitors to the National Underground Railroad Liberty Center.
Rashaad Jorden
Stephanie Lampkin easily confesses that her work requires handling probably the most disgraceful aspect of U.S. history– slavery– and its ongoing impact on the country.
But as a growing variety of states have taken steps in current years to limit the mentor of African American history, she strongly believes it’s more important than ever as the curator of the National Underground Railway Flexibility Center in her home town Cincinnati to explain how the tradition of slavery continues to form the U.S. even after it was abolished close to 160 years ago.
The museum, which informs the story of the secret network of activists helping servants leave the South during the early-to-mid 18th century, generally sees its largest visitor numbers in February, Black History Month. Roughly 4,300 visitors pertained to the NURFC in February 2022, and it’s poised to see big crowds again for the events it’s prepared throughout this Black History Month.
“I know within the present climate there are some locations that are even talking about the value of African American history, and I think that’s truly the wrong concern,” stated Lampkin, adding that problems afflicting the U.S. such as inequality and systemic bigotry can be connected to slavery.
“It is American history, so the story exists whether you want to inform the story or not. It’s our duty to protect or share that story. And actually influence other individuals when they look at that history to truly comprehend that this was a nation developed on slave labor.”
Lampkin’s desire to inform the story of an essential chapter in U.S. history led her to the NURFC, where she’s worked given that June 2021. She supervises the center’s collections, that include items such as newspapers, political animations and pictures from that timeframe. Those materials, Lampkin believes, speak with the perseverance of African Americans.
“There are all these moments in which you see the imagination, the expression, the perseverance, the durability within Black history that when you look at the history of the Underground Railroad, you see these great motions of resistance and survival,” Lampkin stated, citing in particular the Black press that was developed during the duration.
While Lampkin has actually had a deep interest in history because high school, she credits her PhD dissertation at the University of Delaware on 18th century Florida for helping drive her interest in investigating the Underground Railway. Lampkin became especially fascinated by the motion of enslaved individuals in South Carolina and Georgia south to seek liberty, which she admits feels counterintuitive given that the South was related to cotton and slavery. The museum includes space dedicated to those communities in Florida developed by liberty seekers.
The chance to share her findings about the Underground Railroad was a significant reason Lampkin, who had held previously held museum functions in collections management and visitor services, to name a few positions, sought the curator role at the NURFC. She believes a trip to a museum has actually been a moving experience for many visitors.
“(It’s) always fantastic when we have people see the material for the very first time and actively engage with it,” Lampkin stated. “And they have these revelations because it’s a part of history they did not discover or did know.”
“Or we’ll have people return and have the ability to remember things that stood out to them when they first visited us years ago, so that’s always amazing.”
The servant pen is one of the exhibitions at the National Underground Railroad Liberty Center (Source: National Underground Railway Freedom Center)
Lampkin mentions the center’s slave pen, a structure that momentarily housed enslaved people, as one particularly memorable artifact for many visitors. The museum has actually gotten other materials from the 19th century through contributions from collectors, which its personnel confirm by taking a look at records from regional historic societies and court houses, to name a few places. In the case of the slave pen, Lampkin said the center was able to gain access to court records and land deeds.
“It does takes a lot a lot of research study to truly understand what the artifact is since its our duty to share the history as properly as we can,” she stated.
Lampkin confesses her sensations are complex when she sees products such as slave letters and chains utilized throughout the Underground Railroad period. However she believes that informing the reality about U.S. history can be a form of healing. And she keeps the museum can play a critical function in molding activists.
“We constantly motivate people to consider these stories and this history and how they can be representatives of change and contemporary abolitionists,” Lampkin stated.
“Something we actually highlight at the National Underground Railway Freedom Center is what can you do to act. We have actually shown you all these examples of individuals who did something about it.”