Category Archives: Juneteenth

Newport Juneteenth 2023, June 18th and 19th

Washington Square Park and The Friends Meeting House

Schedule of Events coming soon: Sunday, June 18th and Monday, June 19th

A free Juneteenth Holiday Special — Sunday, June 18th & Monday, June 19th from 11am-4 pm each day with family activities in Washington Square Park. Celebrating our nation’s freedom and honoring the enslaved heroes of RI’s 1st Black Regiment, guest speakers and African and Indigenous dancers and drummers, children’s crafts, the Newport Artillery, and Food Court Vendors.

At the Friends Meeting House, spectators will experience a colonial encampment of Continental Soldiers, Militia Regiments, the Ladies of the Greene and more.

Register here to be a RISHM  Juneteenth 2023 Volunteer

Or reach out to Jackie Smith at jsmith.rishm@gmail.com for more information.

Listen to WADK Radio Interview

Charles Roberts, Founder and Executive Director, RI Slave History Medallions talks about the upcoming Juneteenth 2023 event.

Juneteenth at Casey Farm, Sunday June 19, 2022

Historic New England’s Casey Farm
Historic New England’s Casey Farm is located on the ancestral homeland of the Narragansett people. By 1755, soon after this house was built, 19% of people in South County were enslaved. Casey Farm was one of many Rhode Island plantations that used forced labor by people of Indigenous and African descent to care for crops, animals, and domestic duties. Enslaved people allowed the farm to prosper, so centuries later, Historic New England could steward the land. The non-profit cultivates and conserves 300 acres of land with its circa 1750 farmhouse, nineteenth century barns and outbuildings, and miles of stone walls. The RISHM marker is located on the front lawn of the farmhouse.

Juneteenth, Linden Place, Bristol, Saturday June 19, 2021

THE NEW NATIONAL HOLIDAY, JUNETEENTH, A SHARED HISTORICAL COMMEMORATION.

At Linden Place, We Acknowledging the Land of the Enslavers George and James DeWolf, Blessed by the Algonquin, Pokanoket Wampanoag tribes with historic documentation from Roger Williams University. As Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said, “This may be Bristol County but it’s Wampanoag Country”. Truly a A Spiritual Healing took place along our new Nationally Designated Historic Scenic Byway in Bristol.

Juneteenth Weekend, DeWolf Tavern, Bristol, Monday June 21, 2021

THE NEW NATIONAL HOLIDAY, JUNETEENTH, A TIME OF RACIAL HEALING

On June 21, at the DeWolf Tavern, DeWolf family descendants, Dain and Constance Perry screened the documentary “Traces of Trade, a film tracing their journey back to African with nine of the DeWolf family members willing to tell the story of their forefathers, the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. The Perry’s led an audience on a soul searching journey to discover that moment within themselves that strives to find our common humanity. That moment is the Path to Racial Healing.

Remembering Slavery: June 19, 2019

JUNETEENTH 2019, The Newport Historical Society in collaboration with the Rhode Island Slave History Medallions Project  will present an evening of activities June 19, 2019 beginning at 5 pm at The Colony House, Washington Square, Newport, R.I. free event.

  • 5 pm – Fifes and Drums
  • 5:30 pm – Joanne Pope Melish on Remembering Slavery with R.I.S.H.M
  • Charles Roberts – Pompe Stevens Medallion

The Bristol County Fifes and Drums will perform at 5:00 pm, in front of the Colony House as part of the “International Day of Drumming and Healing” organized by the 400 Years of African American History Commission established by Congress in recognition of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans in the British colonies.