Unpacking Freedom: “Terms & Conditions” Exhibit

On view now through August 3, 2025, the University Museum at Texas Southern University and the Buffalo Soldiers Museum presents Terms & Conditions: The Promise vs. Reality, a powerful exhibition examining the complicated legacy of Black freedom in America. Centered on the service of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) and the systems that limited the freedoms they fought for, the exhibition explores how emancipation was often accompanied by exclusion, exception, and enduring struggle.

Curated by Seba R. Suber, the exhibit brings together new and recent works from twelve contemporary artists, including Ann Johnson, Nathaniel Donnett, Alexis Pye, David McGee, and Phillip Pyle II, among others. These artists respond to historical contradictions with paintings, sculptures, installations, and performances that question what it truly means to be free. The work highlights the legacy of General Order No. 3, issued in Galveston in 1865, and how Black Americans have redefined liberation through cultural expression despite persistent barriers.

Terms & Conditions doesn’t simply recount history, it confronts it. Through interpretive panels and interactive QR codes, the exhibit traces a timeline from the Emancipation Proclamation myth to the Reconstruction Amendments’ loopholes, and the commercialization of Juneteenth. 

This piece makes clear that freedom, for many Black Americans, has often been conditional, shaped by race, labor, wealth, and law, yet Black communities have continuously forged spaces of self-determination and joy beyond systemic boundaries.

The opening on June 19, 2025, marked both Juneteenth and the exhibit’s reception and panel discussion, with voices including Dr. Maria Hammack and retired U.S. Army General Barrye L. Price. Together, they explored how the Black imagination has historically challenged and reshaped the meaning of liberation in America. The exhibition reflects not only on political rights but also on the cultural survival strategies that have sustained joy, identity, and community in the face of structural denial.

While Terms & Conditions offers a visual and historical lens on freedom, it also asks: what does it mean to be free when rights are still conditional? It draws a clear line from the USCT’s fight for dignity to the ongoing redefinition of liberation in today’s America. By highlighting both struggle and resilience, the show invites viewers to reconsider freedom not as a static achievement, but as a living, evolving demand.

To dive even deeper into the contributions of Black service members across centuries, visit the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, also known as the Center for African American Military History. Under the leadership of CEO Desmond Bertrand-Pitts, the museum showcases the role of African American men and women in every major U.S. conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the present. Founded by Captain Paul J. Matthews, this American history institution is dedicated to preserving these stories through exhibitions, education, and visual arts. 

Plan your visit, find your connection, and help carry forward the legacy of Black military excellence.