The fourth annual Newport Juneteenth celebration will be held Saturday, June 20, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Fort Adams State Park, organizers announced.
The event, presented by Rhode Island Slave History Medallions, will mark Juneteenth with a Rhode Island 250th anniversary theme this year and will be expanded to celebrate the history of Black and Indigenous people across the state, according to the organization. Free parking will be available.
The program will feature a reenactors’ parade and an honorary musket salute at 11:30 a.m., followed by tributes from civic leaders, including a keynote address by Secretary of State Gregg M. Amore and remarks by U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, according to RISHM. Additional guests are to be announced. The parade ground program will continue with presentations by historians, live music and dance, youth activities, craft vendors and food trucks.
Performances tied to the 250th anniversary theme will include colonial music, Indigenous dancing and drumming by the Thawn Harris family of the Narragansett people, a performance by members of the Pokanoket Tribe, a drum circle led by African drummer Sidy Maiga and a gospel performance by RPM Voices of Rhode Island, the organization said.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, more than two years after it took effect freeing enslaved people in the Confederate states.
“The annual Newport Juneteenth Celebration and marking the landscape where Black and Indigenous history happened in Rhode Island have been the focus of RISHM’s work since 2019,” said Charles Roberts, the organization’s founder and executive director. “We seek to share the untold stories of those ancestors who walked these historic streets, fields and coastlines before us.”
Admission is $10 donation for adults and $5 donation for teens, and free for children 12 and under. Tickets are available at www.rishm.org/event. The organization said an overnight VIP package is also available; details can be obtained at info@rishm.org.
RISHM describes itself as a statewide nonprofit working to educate Rhode Islanders about the state’s role in the history of slavery by sharing documented stories of enslaved people. More information is available at www.rishm.org.
Rhode Island Slave History Medallions invites the community to a special Juneteenth Semiquincentennial Living History Celebration at Fort Adams State Park in Newport.
Held on the parade grounds inside the fort, this family-friendly event will commemorate Juneteenth while also honoring the anniversary of the Revolutionary War and the history of the Battle of Rhode Island.
We invite all visitors to learn more about RISHM’s events and accomplishments in 2025 and support our Annual Campaign, from Giving Tuesday (Dec. 2, 2025) through 401 Gives Day (April 1, 2026).
RISHM relies on the generous support of private donations to continue the underrepresented but important work of marking the landscape of where slave history happened in Rhode Island.
