Touring sculpture of Harriett Tubman to be unveiled Saturday in Bastrop

A striking sculpture that depicts one of the heroines of the anti-slavery fight in the United States in the 19th century will be unveiled Saturday at Bastrop’s historic Kerr Community Center as part of the annual Juneteenth celebration.

Artist Wesley Wofford’s stunning 9-foot-tall bronze work, “Harriet Tubman — the Journey to Freedom,” portrays the famed abolitionist and former slave guiding a young girl to freedom on the Underground Railroad. It will be a reunion of sorts for the sculptor and his work, as the statue was cast at Bastrop’s Pyrology Foundry and Studio, which is owned by Jamie and Clint Howard.

“Journey to Freedom” has been on display in parts of the U.S. since 2020. After the initial unveiling at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Kerr Center, 1308 Walnut St., there will be a formal dedication of the sculpture beginning at noon Wednesday — the official date of Juneteenth — that will include a praise dance performance and music by Bastrop composer Hannibal Lokumbe and others.

Clint Howard said Wofford’s work “is a treasure trove of symbolism, including themes of leaving behind the shackles of slavery.”

Jamie Howard detailed the Howards’ connection with Wofford.

“Over the years we have produced a number of gorgeous pieces for Wesley,” Howard said. She said the original sculpture was commissioned and permanently installed at a private site in Dallas. It had received such strong praise that Wofford was granted special permission from the sculpture’s commissioner to produce a second bronze casting for show but not for sale, and to host a traveling exhibition of the work.

Since 2020, the sculpture has been exhibited in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Alabama, and North and South Carolina.

Clint Howard said the Kerr Center was a natural fit for the Tubman sculpture’s return to Bastrop.

“When this was simply an idea, I reached out to my longtime friend Dock Jackson (chair of the Kerr Center advisory board) to discuss what he thought of the idea,” Howard said. “Dock and the folks at the Kerr Community Center enthusiastically agreed to host the piece. It is the perfect location for the exhibition.”

Jackson said the unveiling and exhibition “is an exceptional honor for the Kerr Community Center, not only is it being unveiled during the Bastrop Juneteenth holiday but also during the 110th anniversary of the center.”

Jackson said the center “is a focal point of local African American history and culture in Bastrop. So many African Americans migrated to this area and established freedom colonies.”

Jackson said Tubman “is remembered today because of the bravery she displayed as an African American woman who could not read or write but managed to navigate her way with so many passengers to freedom.”

During the three-month exhibition at the Kerr Center, scheduled events supporting the installation will include quilt exhibits, dance performances, lectures, poetry readings, student field trips, reading groups and more. Wofford also made an appearance at the Howards’ Found Fine Art gallery downtown on June 1 to discuss the sculpting of the artwork.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Touring sculpture of Harriett Tubman to be unveiled in Bastrop