Sometimes it's not necessarily the information you retain but rather the perspective you gain that determines the impact of a museum visit.

I knew a lot of the information presented at theUnderground Railroad Freedom Center before I went. I knew about the Declaration of Independence and I knew that the founding fathers were slave owners, but I'd never thought deeply about the true hypocrisy of our break from Britian. That's not me throwing stones, that's unfortunately the facts forming the reality of the situation:

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, a wealthy slave owner from Virginia, the Declaration of Independence is largely an indictment of the King of England, listing the ways Britain had oppressed American colonists. The purpose was to justify the Revolution against English Rule.

While essentially a political document, the Declaration was tied to the problem of slavery in a number of ways. The Declaration proclaimed that “all men are created equal” and that they had the right to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” This language, while intended to justify American Independence from Britain, could also have justified slaves revolting against their masters. This surely was not the intention of slaveholder Jefferson.

Ironically, it was the proclamations of equality above from Jefferson (who died in 1806) that ultimately undermined the morality of slavery during the Civil War in 1865. After the release of the Declaration in 1776, English writer Samuel Johnson wondered: How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?

Another thing that's crazy: This all didn't happen that long ago. We are still feeling the affects of slavery on some level in the racial divide that we see today. And although not in its tradition form, an exhibit at the Freedom Center points out that slavery itself still exists in 2012. In 2009, there were 43 human trafficking prosecutions in the United States, split evenly between labor and sex trafficking.

I suppose I shouldn't be entirely pessimistic, given the fact that "stationmasters" helped slaves to escape and hid them wherever they could - in houses, barns, and sheds. Some even made "false bottoms" on their wagons in order to transport people out of slavery. There are always going to be people in this world who are out for their own good, but there are always going to be those who wish no harm upon others, who treat others the way they wish to be treated. My hope is that we are able to get some of the latter into positions of decision making as we go forward into the future.

I suppose that little rant was my way of saying I enjoyed the exhibits of the Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati - it seemed to get my wheels turning. Be sure to check it out if you're in the area or passing through town. With all the writing I've done and all the writing I've yet to do, I could not imagine being remembered for saying something so insane. See the photos below.

Photos from the Underground Railroad Freedom Center:

I had been to Cincinnati twice before, but both visits surrounded the fact that I am a fan of the city's baseball team, the Reds.

I attended the 2006 Opening Day game when President George Bush threw out the first pitch, and I also swung through town in June of 2009 for the Civil Rights Game (a game for which Obama declined an invitation to throw out the first pitch). I didn't spend any time downtown except for the game in either occasion. I don't think I considered the city dangerous, although I will admit I hadn't really heard of a reason to poke around.

Cincy has been plagued by the riots for over a decade, the Queen City assumed to be armed and dangerous by tourists. And I've got to be honest: I can't really blame them. Read up on the history of what happened, at least the general tensions that surrounded the situation. It's pretty disturbing what was going on at the time, and the ensuing uncertainty of trust between police and residents cast a dark cloud of crime over the city for the next decade. People left the downtown area, moving out into the suburbs and leaving the bars, restaurants, and shops to crumble. The three or four million dollars worth of damage that occurred in the few days of rioting was nothing compared to the stain it left on Cincinnati's image and what it would mean for the near future.

I don't say all that to dwell on the past, I say it because I believe the backstory to be important in appreciating the city that stands today. At the risk of sounding dramatic, it's like watching a person turn his life around. Once down, Cincinnati has worked hard to restore its neighborhoods and has put a lot of time, energy, and cash into some impressive urban redevelopment. The progress is evident, without a doubt. The chicken and egg restoration - the quandary of needing residents to attract businesses versus the need for businesses to attract residents - is finally beginning to result in a mutual trust as buildings are refurbished and apartments are renovated.

Proof of Cincinnati's resurgence is evident in its recent hosting of the World Choir Games, a ten-day competition that is considered the "Olympics of choral music." Close to sixty countries were represented at the Games, the venues and hotels of downtown putting up people from all around the world. I think that speaks very largely about the city - its ability to once again draw international events to its infrastructure.

Here are a few other sights and sounds from my two-day stay in the Queen City:

Cincinnati's Infamous Neighborhood, Over the Rhine (OTR): A canal that once ran through Cincinnati reminded German immigrants of the Rhine River in their homeland, prompting them to refer to the area north of the canal as "Over the Rhine." That canal no longer exists, but the name still sticks with the neighborhood today. OTR harbors the majority of the city's art organizations and, according to the OTR Foundation, is comparable both in size and architectural significance to New Orleans’ French Quarter and the historic districts of Charleston and Savannah.

It's also one of the main hubs for nightlife in the city, the section you want to find yourself on a weekend night. Check out the row of bars and restaurants on Vine Street between Central Parkway (the street that was paved above where the canal used to be) and 14th. Neon's Unplugged at Goetz and 12th is good spot as well, a comfortable, open-spaced backyard type hangout with an outdoor barbecue and a bocce ball court to settle who pays for the next drink.

Washington Park: Located in OTR beside Music Hall and featuring a classical music hall of fame, Wash Park recently reopened after undergoing a $48 million renovation and installing a technology that allows visitors to select classical music via a mobile app to be broadcast over the park's sound system. The technology does not exist in any other park in the nation, and the new fountain in the park's center "reacts and dances" to the tempo of the music, most certainly to the delight of the kids cooling off on a summer day.

"We saw the potential to bring what happens inside the hall outdoors, to make the concert experience part of the public space," American Classical Music Hall of Fame Executive Director Nina Perlove told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The goal of the renovations, which also included a playground, dog park, and small concert venue, was to reestablish the park as both a community cornerstone and a social space for families.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at the downtown area as well as some more of the art and cultural aspects of Cincinnati, including thoughts on my visit to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

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