A reading room in the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center will be named after a former slave who learned how to read while in slavery.

        The Cincinnatus Association, a local civic organization that promotes racial and social justice, kicked off a drive last week to raise $500,000 to name the room after John P. Parker of Ripley.

        The $110 million freedom center is to open in 2004 on the Cincinnati riverfront. A reading room will be among many facilities at the center to focus on African-American history and the Underground Railroad movement to free slaves.

        Parker was born to slavery in Virginia in 1827, and worked to buy his freedom for $1,800.

        An inventor, he was among the first African-American entrepreneurs in Ripley, about 60 miles southeast of Cincinnati. He also is credited with helping more than 800 slaves escape to freedom from Kentucky to Ohio by rowing them across the Ohio River in a wooden boat.

        His house in Ripley was named a National Historic Landmark in 1997.

        Cincinnati lawyer Bob Buechner, part of a 19-member task force working on the fund drive. said the Cincinnatus Association voted last week to support the reading room project because of the effect Parker had on reading as a slave.

        “I think a reading room honoring Mr. Parker will be a place where learning will create a new understanding and can stimulate and open young minds,” said Ed Rigaud, president of the Na tional Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

        Historical records indicate that after Parker learned how to read, he smuggled books to help other slaves learn how read.

        When he moved to Ripley after buying his freedom, Parker started a foundry business.

        He eventually patented such inventions as the tobacco press.

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