The world premiere of Picturing Freedom: Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid opens May 23 and runs through October 5 at the Gibbes Museum of Art in downtown Charleston.
During the Combahee River Raid, Harriet Tubman led the largest and most successful slave rebellion in the United States.
The visionary multimedia museum exhibition brings to life the daring freedom fighters led by Tubman on that fateful moonlit night in 1863, when 756 enslaved people liberated themselves in six hours ‒ more than ten times the number of enslaved people Tubman rescued during the ten years of the Underground Railroad.
This untold story has never been explored this way, featuring major works by some of America's leading artists honoring Harriet Tubman throughout more than 100 years of artmaking in America.
These paintings and sculptures from important collections across the country are combined with stunning environmental photographs by J Henry Fair of the Combahee River serpentine landscape where the heroic raid took place, alongside historical items and archival images.
Together, this powerful grouping will immerse viewers in the dangers enslaved people faced in this treacherous terrain.
Now finally recognized as the most successful Union military operation of the Civil War, this uprising was orchestrated and guided by Harriet Tubman. Yet until now, there is little or no mention of the Combahee River Raid in most history textbooks. This museum show is based on the award-winning recent book by Dr. Edda Fields-Black (historian at Carnegie Mellon University). Her relevatory new book is published by Oxford University Press.
The raid was remarkable because it was carried out by one of the earliest all-Black regiments of the Union army.
This new museum show carefully recreates the full journey of these brave soldiers and freedom seekers. Video reenactments of the River Raid, and multimedia testimonials by descendants of the enslaved people who liberated themselves, will be featured in this exhibition. These enslaved laborers are finally given names and stories, to permanently inscribe them into the historical record.
The exhibition is guest-curated by Dr. Vanessa Thaxton-Ward (Director of the Hampton University Museum). As part of her curatorial process, she explores why artists continue to turn to images of Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River region to express ideas of freedom and legacy.