A new exhibition at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina, titled “Picturing Freedom,” highlights Harriet Tubman’s role in the Combahee River Raid of 1863, where she guided Union troops to free 756 enslaved people in a single night. The show features works by Jacob Lawrence, Aaron Douglas, Elizabeth Catlett, and Faith Ringgold, alongside contemporary artists, and includes multimedia elements such as audio interviews with descendants, a video reenactment, and landscape photographs by J. Henry Fair. Guest curated by Vanessa Thaxton-Ward of Hampton University Museum, the exhibition is based on Edda L. Fields-Black’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book "COMBEE."
The exhibition matters because it brings long-overdue attention to a pivotal but underrecognized Civil War event, reframing Tubman’s legacy beyond the Underground Railroad. By combining historical research, visual art, and immersive experiences, it underscores the power of art to illuminate forgotten histories and connect past struggles to contemporary audiences. The show also marks the retirement of Gibbes director Angela Mack, who spent 44 years at the museum, adding a poignant institutional milestone.