06/19/2026
This Juneteenth, we honor the enduring struggle for freedom and commemorate June 19, 1865, the day news of emancipation finally reached enslaved African Americans in Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
As we reflect on this important moment in our nation’s history, we are reminded of the stories that paved the way toward freedom, including the events explored in the Gibbes Museum of Art’s exhibition Picturing Freedom: Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid. The nationally acclaimed museum show was originally created by the Gibbes, and has since traveled to Virginia — currently at Hampton University Museum (the oldest African-American museum in the U.S.), on view there until August 28).
On June 2, 1863, along South Carolina’s Combahee River, Harriet Tubman helped lead what would become the largest and most successful liberation of enslaved people in U.S. history. During the raid, 756 enslaved men, women, and children liberated themselves in a single night, and many continued the fight for freedom by joining the Union Army.
Through groundbreaking scholarship, contemporary photography, historic artworks, and material culture, Picturing Freedom helped illuminate this powerful Lowcountry story and its place in the broader journey toward emancipation that Juneteenth commemorates.
Today, we honor the courage, resilience, and determination of those who fought for freedom, and we reflect on the continuing importance of preserving and sharing these histories.
Image credits:
Wade In the Water, 2020, by Stephen Towns. Natural and synthetic fabric, polyester and cotton thread, crystal glass. Courtesy of private collector.
