Exhibition at the National Liberty Museum exploring why people gather and how acts of association sustain community and democracy.
The Art of Free Assembly is on at the National Liberty Museum in Old City, running from March 6, 2026, through August 3, 2027. It's an exhibition that looks at why humans gather and how the act of associating sustains community and democracy. The museum frames liberty as something evolving, subjective and contextual, and puts the freedom of assembly right at the center of that conversation.
The displays explore when people have gathered and when those gatherings were restricted by those in power, and how coming together builds community. It's presented alongside Showing Up Since 1776, so you can see both at once.
To get a sense of where the museum is coming from, it helps to look at the other things they're running. Their permanent Forgotten Freedom exhibit traces assembly before the United States was founded, citing the Haudenosaunee Confederacy—which Benjamin Franklin pointed to in 1751 as evidence that separate communities could form a lasting union—and William Penn, the Quaker who founded Pennsylvania as a haven for religious community. Then there's In the Arena — Sports & Assembly, which hangs sports memorabilia like Babe Ruth's baseball cap, Messi's jersey and Jackie Robinson's bag, and frames segregation in sport as a cultural agreement rather than a law.
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The Art of Free Assembly sits in that same orbit, looking at how we come together and what happens when we do. You'll find the museum at 321 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors 65 and over, $8 for students with a valid ID, $6 for youth ages 6 to 17, and free for children under 5. Museum members get in free.
