Extraordinary African American Women Celebrated In Freedom’s Sisters Interactive Exhibition

Extraordinary African American Women Celebrated In Freedom’s Sisters Interactive Exhibition

It would be difficult to imagine the course of American history without them: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad; Rosa Parks and her brave refusal in 1955 to relinquish her seat on a Montgomery city bus; Fannie Lou Hamer and her courageous stand at a 1968 political convention. These stories of courage and commitment are among the many featured in the “Freedom’s Sisters” exhibition, a collaboration between the Cincinnati Museum Center, Ford Motor Company Fund and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). The interactive exhibition showcases 20 extraordinary African American women and opens its three-year national tour at the Cincinnati Museum Center March 15. It remains there until Sept. 14, and then travels to eight additional cities, including Memphis, Tenn., Birmingham, Ala., Dallas and Detroit. A variety of engaging, educational and community outreach components will facilitate the involvement of local audiences.

“From Mary McCleod Bethune to Dorothy Height, the stories in ‘Freedom’s Sisters’ will surely inspire and motivate all Americans, especially younger visitors,” said Jim Vella, Ford Motor Company Fund President. “We are deeply proud to be a part of this important, educational and uplifting exhibition that honors these individuals and the causes that they served.”

“The inspiring stories of these women should be told and told again,” said Cincinnati Museum Center president and CEO Douglass W. McDonald. “Cincinnati Museum Center is honored to create this extraordinary exhibit and can only hope that we can provide an extension to the legacies of these strong, courageous and trailblazing women.”

“These 20 women left not a footnote but a footprint on American history,” said SITES Director Anna R. Cohn. “Many of their stories may not be well known, but their roles and contributions were monumental in shaping our country and its conscience.”

Read the complete Press Release