The Nation­al Under­ground Rail­road Free­dom Cen­ter is a muse­um of con­science, it offers lessons on the strug­gle for free­dom in the past, in the present, and for the future as it attempts to chal­lenge vis­i­tors to con­tem­plate the mean­ing of free­dom in their own lives. Its loca­tion rec­og­nizes the sig­nif­i­cant role of Cincin­nati, where thou­sands of slaves escaped to free­dom by cross­ing the Ohio Riv­er, in the his­to­ry of the Under­ground Rail­road.