Juneteenth is a day of celebration, and visitors to your Tennessee State Museum (TSM) can enjoy musical guests, history, and speakers for a special celebration from 10:30 am until 2:30 pm on Friday, June 19. Throughout the day, families can also enjoy Storytime and craft activities. Sankofa African Drum and Dance Company will be performing at 12 Noon. Throughout the day, hands-on history stations will be in the galleries. Get an updated full schedule of events at: tnmuseum.org/calendar-of-events
While you are at the museum on Juneteenth or anytime, check out the current Temporary Exhibits: “Samplers and Young Women: Threading Together Art and Education,” “Tennessee Made: Three Grand Divisions of the Arts,” “The Tennessee Playlist: The People, Places, and Roots of Our Music,” “Tennessee Voices, American Stories,” and “Remembrance: Military Representation Through Public Art at the State Capitol.” Always popular are the museum’s Permanent Exhibitions: “First Peoples,” “Forging a Nation,” “Tennessee Time Tunnel,” “Natural History,” “Change & Challenge,” “The Civil War and Reconstruction,” and “Tennessee Transforms.”
The Children’s Gallery is open to the public Tuesday-Saturday, from 10:00 a.m.- to 4:30 p.m.; Sundays, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. Storytime in the Children’s Gallery is Tuesday and Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Every fourth Saturday of the month, Storytime features an American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreter from community partner BRIDGES For the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Visitors looking to engage their children with kid-specific programming should visit: TNMuseum.org/kids
TSM is always free and open to the public, located at the corner of Rosa L. Parks Blvd. and Jefferson Street, adjacent to the Nashville Farmers’ Market at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. Free parking is available in a lot shared by the Museum and the Farmers’ Market. The Museum is open: Closed Mondays; Open Tuesdays – Saturdays 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sundays 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. There is also free two-hour parking available along 6th and 7th Avenues. Lockers are available free of charge to those visitors that wish to store backpacks and coats. Some lockers include charging stations for mobile devices. Wheelchairs are available free of charge to those visitors with limited mobility at the front desk.
TN Writers | TN Stories presents Lamar Alexander, author of “The Education of a Senator: From JFK to Trump” (Post Hill Press), in conversation with John Seigenthaler, on Saturday, June 13, 2026, from 10:30 AM – 12:00 Noon. This behind-the-scenes story of the last sixty years of American politics, is told with purpose and humor by a political legend who worked with ten presidents, made deals with both Obama and Trump, and believes that serving in public office is the best way to help the largest number of people and to keep our Republic from falling apart.
Alexander paints insider portraits of the ten presidents he worked with — including the one best suited to the job, the most skillful politician, most accomplished in foreign affairs, most “normal,” and another who was on his way to being the most consequential. His book is for Americans hungry for optimism and leadership. It will inspire anyone who wants to serve in public office but doesn’t know how to start. It is a blueprint for those who want to join the 519,682 Americans already elected to office and the millions who work with them.
