Search

It is called a slave pen, but it's really a cage. The wooden structure, 20 by 30 feet and two stories high, imprisoned slaves who had been bought by a Kentucky dealer until he could dispose of them. Inside, men were chained in place, while women could move about, cooking in a fireplace and doing their best to deal with the tight quarters, tiny windows, and complete lack of sanitation. The pen, later converted to a barn, was bought and restored by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, in Cincinnati, and will form the centerpiece of that museum when it opens on August 23, 2004.