Eastern State Announces 2026 Semiquincentennial Initiative, A Time for Liberty

PHILADELPHIA, PA (January 26, 2026) — In honor of the 250th birthday of the United States, Eastern State announced the launch of A Time for Liberty: Our Shared History, Our Shared Future, a yearlong slate of free, inclusive public programming taking place throughout 2026. 

Designed to invite reflection, dialogue, and civic engagement, A Time for Liberty will explore the evolving meanings of liberty and justice in America through family-friendly festivals, panel discussions with scholars and systems-impacted leaders, pop-up exhibitions drawn from Eastern State’s archival collections, and new online learning resources extending the experience to classrooms nationwide. 

In the early days of the nation, the idea for Eastern State emerged as a bold initiative to reform the criminal justice system. Built on a then-radical belief in human dignity and the capacity for change, Eastern State became the nation’s first penitentiary and a powerful symbol of America’s evolving ideas about liberty, justice, and rehabilitation. 

“In 2026, Eastern State is creating opportunities for people of all ages to engage with complex questions about liberty, justice, and accountability in accessible and meaningful ways,” said Dr. Kerry Sautner, President & CEO of Eastern State. “As the nation marks its Semiquincentennial, A Time for Liberty invites the public to reflect on where we’ve been and consider how we shape a more just future together.” 

Highlights of A Time for Liberty will include The Great Escape: Stories of Resistance and Creativity at Eastern State, a weeklong program series from March 27 through April 5 inviting visitors to discover stories of resilience, creativity, and resistance within one of America’s most influential prisons, and to reflect on what those stories mean for our communities today. The Great Escape will feature Speakeasy and Tunnel Escape Mini Tours; pop-up talks on Al Capone and policing in Prohibition-era Amera; and a sitewide, interactive, secret letter delivery activity.  

Philly Saves: Adaptive Reuse of Sites of Memory and Trauma, a May 2026 program, will examine how people steward the physical legacy of democracy, including prisons, churches, burial grounds, schools, and factories, and how these sites can be reclaimed as spaces of civic dialogue, healing, and community.  

On May 27, Eastern State will kick off its annual Wednesday Nights series with a powerful interfaith dialogue on faith, reentry, and prison reform, bringing together Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders to examine how religious traditions have shaped American approaches to rehabilitation, moral responsibility, and reintegration since the nation’s founding.  

On July 2, A Time for Liberty will celebrate the opening of Freedom through Faith: Judaism at Eastern State and Beyond, a new exhibit that will reveal how religious freedom, framed as "unalienable rights," was a foundational promise of the Declaration that was strongly represented and practiced inside America’s first penitentiary, especially among its Jewish population. The exhibit will explore how faith sustained dignity, community, and moral agency for incarcerated people, demonstrating how liberty of conscience persisted even within confinement. 

Throughout 2026, A Time for Liberty will feature numerous Justice 101 conversations focused on liberty and justice, including a June event with Professor Hasan Jeffries on the history of Juneteenth and its meaning today.  Eastern State will also participate in 52 Weeks of Firsts on October 3 in partnership with the Philadelphia Historic District, spotlighting its legacy as the nation’s first penitentiary. 

In its entirety, A Time for Liberty programming will include: 

• Five family-friendly festivals offering opportunities for people of all ages to connect with history, culture, and civic dialogue 
• Nine panel discussions featuring scholars and systems-impacted leaders examining justice, reform, and lived experience 
• Two pop-up exhibitions drawn from Eastern State’s extraordinary archival collections 
• New online learning resources designed to extend A Time for Liberty into classrooms nationwide 

A Time for Liberty is made possible with support from civic and cultural partners, including the City of Philadelphia, America250PA, Campus250, the Philadelphia Funder Collaborative for the Semiquincentennial, the National Trust Preservation Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Additional partners, program details, and a full calendar of events will be announced throughout 2026. 

For more information and updates, visit www.easternstate.org.

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Media Contact
Abby Kleman
Cashman & Associates
[email protected]
M: 302-668-4781

 

About Eastern State
Eastern State preserves America’s first penitentiary, advancing public understanding of the criminal justice system and its impact on the lives of those affected by it, to inspire a more just future. For more information, visit EasternState.org and follow Eastern State on Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok, and YouTube.