You can now see Jackie Robinson’s game bag, Muhammad Ali’s robe, Michael Jordan’s game-worn sneakers, and more in Philly

An equipment bag carried by Jackie Robinson still dusted with dirt. A calf-length robe Muhammad Ali had custom-made for his historic “Rumble in the Jungle” bout. A baseball cap worn by Babe Ruth. A pair of Michael Jordan’s game-worn sneakers. A torch carried at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where American track and field athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals under the leering eye of Hitler.

These sports treasures and more form the heart of the National Liberty Museum’s grand new exhibition series dedicated to America’s 250th anniversary in 2026. Entitled, “The Forgotten Freedom: American Assembly at 250” — and running through August 2027 — the exhibit explores all the ways Americans have been showing up since 1776.

Featuring artifacts from colonial times to banners carried during the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 March on Washington, to a bejeweled jacket inspired by Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, the exhibit places assembly at the center of the American story.

“Assembly can take many forms,” said Alaine Arnott, president and CEO of the National Liberty Museum in Old City. “It’s the only freedom within the constitution that comes with a qualifier: peacefully. Assembly doesn’t have to be formal. It could be just people gathered around a table or at a church or at a concert. Or at a sports arena.”

The galleries are bursting with 250 years of artifacts. Touring them can feel akin to wandering some great American yard sale, one curated to speak to moments when ordinary Americans drove extraordinary change.

There is a chair from the first Continental Congress, when the Founders first gathered to debate liberty. There is a collection of vintage presidential campaign pins and union posters. There is an original vinyl recording from Woodstock.

Much of the exhibit’s power is found in its eye-popping collection of sports relics, on loan from the DePace Sports Museum and Learning Center in Sewell.

Costantino Spinosa, director of museum experience, worked with Nicholas DePace, a cardiologist and Philly sports fan, whose collection has been valued at over $40 million, to select pieces.

“They all had to represent assembly in some capacity,” Spinosa said.

Whether that means a championship that cements a city’s cultural identity — like the Eagles 2016 Super Bowl trophy — or moments that remind how unequal the playing field was for so long, like a 1941 Negro leagues championship trophy for the Kansas City Monarchs, featuring future major leaguer Satchel Paige.

And moments where national identity is shaped through sport, like the gloves worn by Mike Eruzione, captain of the 1980 men’s Olympic hockey team, when the team defeated the Soviet Union in the “Miracle on Ice.”

The hope is that rare sports treasures may attract visitors other than your usual history buffs.

“We’re genuinely excited about this,” said Spinosa. “We think this is a really fun way to talk about something that is critically important.”