ROOTS exhibit returns to downtown Hazard for Juneteenth events

The ROOTS exhibit returned to downtown Hazard at the ArtStation, pairing Juneteenth programming with new work and a fuller summer calendar from the Southeast Kentucky African-American Museum and Cultural Center. By putting Black art and local history in the middle of downtown, the museum turned the holiday into a public display that drew attention well beyond a single commemorative day.

The museum, founded in 2021 by Emily Jones Hudson, has built its mission around correcting the idea that Black people do not live in the mountains and bringing Eastern Kentucky’s Black history into clearer view. Hudson has said she wanted to counter that narrative and show that the region’s Black past was always there, even when it was left out of popular understandings of Kentucky history.

The Juneteenth event in Hazard was held June 19 at the ArtStation, and the museum said the ROOTS exhibit was part of several upcoming summer events celebrating Black history, art and culture. Earlier Juneteenth programming in Hazard has included a free lunch-and-learn and a music-and-storytelling workshop, and the exhibit has previously been presented as Roots: Black Art in These Hills-View From My Window. That mix of exhibit space and public programming has made the holiday more than a one-day observance, with education and local artists centered alongside the celebration.

The venue itself gives the effort added visibility. The ArtStation sits in the heart of downtown Hazard, is operated by Appalachian Arts Alliance and opened in July 2020 in a former Greyhound Bus Station. Appalachian Arts Alliance has described the site as part of downtown revitalization and economic development, a fit for an exhibit that brings residents and visitors into the business district during the early-summer season.

That downtown role was already established in 2024, when a Juneteenth event at the ArtStation was organized by the Southeast Kentucky African-American Museum and Cultural Center, Hazard Community and Technical College and other local partners. The return of ROOTS extends that pattern, giving Perry County a recurring cultural event that links memory, art and Main Street activity.

The exhibit also connects Hazard to a wider state effort to recognize Black history. Kentucky added 10 sites to the Kentucky African American Heritage Trail in April 2026, bringing the trail to more than 60 sites after its June 2025 debut with more than 50 historic sites and attractions. In Hazard, that broader history is playing out in a downtown space that now serves as both a gallery and a gathering place.