BY PAUL BARTON
Enquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Calling it a "critical piece of our collective history," the House Tuesday passed legislation 415-2 to commemorate a national network of Underground Railroad sites.
The centerpiece will be the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, an $80 million project expected to open in spring 2003.
Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, led a three-year effort by members of the Ohio delegation to pass the bill, which ended up with 156 co-sponsors.
"This legislation can foster a spirit of racial harmony," Mr. Portman said. "Just as the Underground Railroad bridged the divide of race, religion and nationality and joined people for a common purpose, so has this bill."
Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, a chief Senate sponsor, is expected to try to pass the House version in the Senate as quickly as possible. Ed Rigaud, president and CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, said it would be a major boost for the Cincinnati site to have a network of nationwide sites for which it can serve as the centerpiece.
The Cincinnati center, to be part of riverfront development, is expected to be a world-class museum of close to 135,000 square feet.
The term Underground Railroad refers to the system of back roads, swamps, waterways, hidden shelters, tunnels and forests that were used to move slaves from slaveholding states.
From the late 18th century until the end of the Civil War, the railroad and its undercover "conductors" -- both black and white -- helped more than 40,000 slaves escape.
There are Underground Railroad sites in 29 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
"We feel the Underground Railroad history has the potential to help people come together in the spirit of reconciliation," Mr. Rigaud said.
The bill authorizes $500,000 annually for the National Park Service to use in allocating staff, developing educational materials and providing technical assistance to public-private partnerships that would be used to preserve sites nationwide.
The Cincinnati site, for example, is to be 70 percent privately funded.
A long line of House members went to the House floor to speak in favor of the bill and praise Reps. Portman and Louis Stokes, D-Shaker Heights, for their work on the project.
The railroad is a "critical piece of our collective history," said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
"It's an American story but it's also a universal story," Minority Whip David Bonior, D-Mich., said of the courage and interracial cooperation that the railroad epitomizes.
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Web site
