Power the Future of the Underground Railroad Education Center
The Event
Arias in the Afternoon brings Handel’s Messiah together with the Smithsonian’s Voices and Votes exhibit for a powerful experience combining music, history, and inspiration. Handel’s Messiah has enraptured audiences for centuries and its beauty still captivates us today—but Handel’s worldly success was entangled with the slave trade. As an investor in the Royal African Company, he profited from the trafficking and suffering of enslaved Africans.
This afternoon of music and history invites us to be moved by beauty, but also to face the truth behind it.
SPONSORSHIPS INCLUDE EVENT TICKETS
Why We Exist
The Underground Railroad Education Center exists to tell the whole story—celebrating courage, exposing injustice, and passing forward the legacy of resistance. We believe history must be seen, heard, and felt to fully inform an intentional future committed to justice. Located at the Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence in Albany, UREC preserves history in an award-winning space — but the demand for programs, exhibits, and community gatherings has outpaced our walls, making the Interpretive Center the next step.
A Living Legacy
Imagine walking into a space where the walls honor the voices of freedom fighters, where young people stand tall as they discover the courage of those who came before them, and where our community can gather to celebrate progress and plan for a more equitable tomorrow. That is the promise of the Interpretive Center.
More than just a building—the Interpretive Center will be a living legacy, designed for sustainability and innovation, with geothermal energy, solar panels, and responsibly-sourced timber. These features reflect our commitment to good stewardship of the environment, uniting the past with the present, and passing the torch from one generation to the next.
