Fort Worth’s own Sedrick Huckaby traveled to El Nacimiento, Mexico, through a Fulbright grant in 2023 to study the history of the Mascogo people of the region, who were descendants of enslaved Black Seminoles in the United States who escaped bondage via Mexico along the Southern Underground Railroad. Today, residents in this region celebrate Día de los Negros on June 19 to commemorate the end of slavery. Through Huckaby’s year in residence, he created over 100 pastel portraits of their descendants, including their oral narratives.

Two works from the series, Raul Torrabla Amador and Guadalupe Arrambide Valdez, enter the National Juneteenth Museum’s collection and tell a broader story of how June 19 is celebrated as a day of freedom even outside of the United States.