BASTROP, Texas — Outside the Kerr Community Center in Bastrop now sits a statue of Harriet Tubman, the great abolitionist who helped established the Underground Railroad that led to the freedom of thousands of slaves.
The statue is part of the Journey to Freedom, a travel tour making a stop in Bastrop.
The Pyrology Foundry and Lab made and sold the statue. It became so popular with exhibitions everywhere the lab created another one, and it’s the one on tour, and so we got it because it was coming back home," Dock Jackson, the chairman of the Kerr Community Center, said.
“Because of Harriet, so many slaves were freed taken from the south [to the] north to freedom and because the word didn't get to Texas until much later, that’s why we have Juneteenth," Jackson added. "[We] thought it would be great to have the exhibit that is touring all over the United States here in Bastrop."
RELATED: 'We need to be united' | The Grandmother of Juneteenth hosted her 2024 Walk for Freedom in Dallas
Itoya Collins came to check it out on Juneteenth.
"A little overwhelming part of our history ... that type, representing [a] big part of our history," Collins said. "It's someone who was brave enough to do what I don't know I could have done myself. Someone who risked her life, so I could live freely."
For Sharon DeShay, a fifth-generation Bastrop resident, the statue is very special. She came out with her family, including her granddaughter, on Wednesday.
"To see the history of what our ancestors have gone through, for our children to see it physically it makes a difference," DeShay said.
The statue will be at 1308 Walnut St. in Bastrop for three months.