BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center has hired a nationally known museum official as its director and chief operating officer. CP:John Fleming
Dr. John Fleming, 54, comes to the freedom center from the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he has been the director since 1988. He has been working with the freedom center as a consultant since 1994.
"As I saw the ideas and the plans for the freedom center unfold, I realized this was going to be a very major, significant national project," Dr. Fleming said Wednesday.
"To build a new facility, I think that's really challenging. It allows you to put your own personal imprint on it."
Dr. Fleming will plan, implement and manage the center's community and educational programming, exhibits, budget and operations. He also will supervise the center's senior management team and will oversee all museum projects and activities.
Dr. Fleming will step up his work with the freedom center over the coming months as he prepares to leave the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center. He will start working full time in Cincinnati in January.
The freedom center is scheduled to open on Cincinnati's central riverfront in 2003. The center aims to celebrate the courage and cooperation of the Underground Railroad, a secret network used by African-Americans, white abolitionists and Native Americans to help slaves escape to freedom.
Freedom center President and CEO Ed Rigaud said Dr. Fleming already has contributed to the center through his consulting work.
"His in-depth knowledge of museums and programming experience, coupled with his understanding of the freedom center will make him a valuable addition to our staff," Mr. Rigaud said in a statement.
Dr. Fleming has been the Afro-American Museum project director for the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, a senior fellow at the Institute for the Study of Educational Policy at Howard University and an analyst with the United States Civil Rights Commission in Washington.
He is president of the Association of African American Museums and past president of the Ohio Museums Association. He is on the executive committee of the American Association of Museums' International Council of Museums and a former member of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Underground Railroad Study Committee.
Dr. Fleming holds a Ph.D. and an M.A., both in history, from Howard University, and a bachelor's degree in history from Berea College. He also has attended the University of Malawi in Blantyre, Malawi, Africa, and the Museum Management Institute at the University of California-Berkeley. He is originally from North Carolina.
