While Juneteenth is officially celebrated on June 19, the Tennessee State Museum will celebrate the day with a day-long event on Saturday, June 10. This year’s Juneteenth Celebration, “Looking to the Past to Empower the Future,” will feature an edition of our TN Writers | TN Stories series with New York Times bestselling author Sheree Renée Thomas. We'll also have a helpful "In Conversation" event, with a group of panelists who will discuss beginner steps and best practices for preserving your own family history through material culture. Throughout the day, families can enjoy Storytime and craft activities at the Museum. There will also be a dance, poetry and music hour followed by a special panel discussion on preserving Black family history. See the full schedule of events below.
Schedule of Events:
Family Activities
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Please join us as we celebrate Juneteenth with crafts throughout the day. These will be held in the Children’s Gallery and Education Suite on the first floor. | Children’s Gallery and Education Suite
TN Writers | TN Stories: Sheree Renée Thomas
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Part of our TN Writers | TN Stories series, this event explores an anthology of thirty-two original stories from the award-winning editorial team of Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight that showcases the breadth of fantasy and science fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora. Created in the legacy of the seminal, award-winning anthology series Dark Matter, Africa Risen celebrates the vibrancy, diversity, and reach of African and Afro-Diasporic SFF and reaffirms that Africa is not rising—it’s already here. | Digital Learning Center
Food Trucks
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Food trucks will be in the Museum’s driveway near the Rosa L. Parks entrance. Our visitors may purchase delicious food during the day’s programs from Phat Pizza, The Baking Room, Slow Burn Hot Chicken, The Pepper Pot, and the Little Juice Company. | Rosa L. Parks Driveway
Performances of Poetry, Music and Dance
1:00 – 2:25 p.m.
Enjoy performances from groups such as Cremona Strings, Poets Cameron and Simba, and Global Education Center, and Cersle. | Grand Hall
In Conversation: Preserving Your Family’s Black History
2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
In this In Conversation event, panelists will discuss beginner steps and best practices for preserving your own family history. Join us as we discuss collecting, archiving, and preserving Black history with our panel of scholars, including Gordon Belt, Director of Public Services at Tennessee State Library & Archives; Jo Ann McClellan, founder and President of the African American Heritage Society of Maury County; Serina Gilbert, Executive Director of Promise Land Community Club; and Tranae Chatman, Tennessee State Museum curator of social history. | Digital Learning Center
To complement this discussion, consider visiting our online exhibition: Preserving African American History and Material Culture. Through collecting and analyzing the material culture of past generations, we can begin to understand individuals and their responses to their own communities and to the world at large.
