The Tennessee State Museum (TSM) Juneteenth Celebration 2025 will be held at the Museum on Thursday, June 19 from 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. The Museum invites visitors to celebrate Juneteenth with musical guests, a history panel discussion, and hands on history in the galleries. Throughout the day, families can enjoy Storytime and craft activities at the Museum.
Here’s the Schedule of Events (subject to change):
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Family Activities: celebrate Juneteenth with crafts throughout the day on the first floor, in the Children’s Gallery and Education Suite.
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. Hands on History in the Galleries: Interact with Museum educators and learn more about the artifacts in the gallery. Forging a Nation, Civil War & Reconstruction, Tennessee Transforms, and Photography in Tennessee exhibitions.
11:00 p.m. – 12:00 p.m. “Shifting Focus: Antebellum and Civil War Photography in Tennessee” exhibition highlight. Photography was introduced to Tennessee in the late 1840s. Through the next two decades, photographers captured the rapid political and social changes that occurred before, during and after the Civil War. Tranae Chatman, TSM curator of social history, will highlight stories featured in the Museum’s new exhibit Photography in Tennessee” in the TSM Digital Learning Center.
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Entertainment Hour: Enjoy desserts and musical guests Sankofa African Drum and Dance Company in the Grand Hall.
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Hands on History in the Galleries: Interact with Museum educators and learn more about the artifacts in the gallery. Forging a Nation, Civil War & Reconstruction, Tennessee Transforms, and Photography in Tennessee exhibitions.
2:00 p.m. A special African American Highlight Tour through the Museum Galleries
Parking Information: Free parking is available between the Museum and the Nashville Farmers Market. During the Juneteenth event at the Museum on June 19, 2025, visitors have also been granted special permission to park for free in state lots 15 and 16.
SPECIAL EVENT SATURDAY, JUNE 14 in the Digital Learning Center
TN Writers | TN Stories: Charlie Peacock, “Roots and Rhythm: A Life in Music” (Eerdmans) in conversation with Jason Moon Wilkins
Charlie Peacock is a multi-genre Billboard chart – topping music producer, composer, and recording artist. In this artful memoir, Roots and Rhythm, Grammy Award–winning music producer Charlie Peacock gives readers the gritty backstage stories they crave: biographical anecdotes, geeky trivia, and how the hits were written and recorded (from jazz to rock and pop). Threaded throughout is Peacock’s unique ancestral and spiritual story — the roots. Like Coltrane, Dylan, and Bono before him, Peacock reveals a Christ-affection while refusing genres too small for his music. Peacock, the great-grandson of a Louisiana fiddler, is an American musical polymath. He’s been the young jazz musician sitting at the feet of trumpeter Eddie Henderson and pianist Herbie Hancock; the singer-songwriter plucked from the Northern California punk / pop underground by legendary impresarios Bill Graham and Chris Blackwell; a pioneering, innovative contributor to the nascent rise of gospel rock in the 1980s; and the genre-busting producer behind such diverse artists as Al Green, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Chris Cornell, Audio Adrenaline, The Civil Wars, Switchfoot, Turtle Island Quartet, and John Patitucci. Jason Moon Wilkins is the Program Director from WNXP in Nashville.
This event is part of the TSM TN Writers | TN Stories series. Readings and discussions take place in the Digital Learning Center at TSM. All events include an opportunity to purchase books through the Museum store and get them signed by the author. If you show your Eventbrite ticket you will receive a 10% discount on your book purchase in the Museum Store.
