Through Oct. 5 the Gibbes Museum of Art presents the world premiere of Picturing Freedom: Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid, a groundbreaking multimedia exhibition that sheds light on one of the most remarkable — yet overlooked — chapters in American history.
On June 2, 1863, Harriet Tubman led the largest and most successful slave rebellion in the United States. Commanding three Union steamboats alongside Colonel James Montgomery and the Second South Carolina Volunteers — one of the earliest all-Black regiments in the Union Army — Tubman guided freedom fighters deep behind Confederate lines along South Carolina’s Combahee River. In just six hours, 756 enslaved people liberated themselves, more than ten times the number Tubman helped free during a decade on the Underground Railroad.
Despite the raid’s significance, Tubman’s pivotal leadership has been largely absent from textbooks and popular history. Against the backdrop of recent efforts to erase Tubman’s legacy — including attempts to remove her name from a U.S. Navy ship and the National Park Service website — this exhibition powerfully reclaims her story.
Picturing Freedom brings this history to life through paintings, sculptures, archival artifacts, and immersive multimedia experiences. Stunning environmental photographs by J Henry Fair capture the serpentine landscapes where the raid unfolded, while video reenactments and firsthand testimonials from descendants of those who freed themselves provide emotional depth and personal connection.
The exhibition is guest-curated by Dr. Vanessa Thaxton-Ward, Director of the Hampton University Museum, and inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Combee by historian Dr. Edda Fields-Black of Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Fields-Black’s revelatory research uncovers the names and stories of many who escaped during the raid, permanently inscribing them into the historical record.
“This exhibition is not just about art — it’s about truth, resilience, and the unshakable fight for freedom,” says Dr. Thaxton-Ward.
Featuring works from over 100 years of American artmaking, Picturing Freedom celebrates Tubman’s extraordinary courage while honoring the legacy of those who risked everything for liberation.
For more details, visit gibbesmuseum.org