A new photographic exhibition entitled: Freedom’s Struggle: The Underground Railroad along the Ohio River in Kentucky and Indiana, by artist Willie Johnson, will be hosted at the Freedom Center from January 6 – March 27, 2009. This exhibition has been funded, in part, by the Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The exhibit tells the story of the Underground Railroad through modern photos of historic sites that evoke the journey made by 19th century slaves. Mr. Johnson researched, documented, and interpreted in 35 beautiful black and white photographs known routes and stops used by African-American slaves who dreamed of freedom by secretly crossing to the north side of the Ohio River. St. Louis’s historic connection to African-American individuals struggling for freedom is also explored with images commemorating the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing, William Wells Brown, and Dred Scott and the Historic Old Courthouse. The exhibition is free to those who pay admission to the Freedom Center.