Join us on Saturday, April 11th, at the Newport Art Museum from 6-9pm. The Gilded Age and the culture of Black Dandyism will be discussed and displayed. Please dress to impress your own expression of Dandyism!
Enjoy a lavish local oyster bar and cash bar in the Drury Gallery and stationary hors d’oeuvre stations in the Wright  galley with the Downing maquette and cash bar in the Library for one hour, from 6-7pm.
The event will then move into the Ilgenfritz  Gallery with seating where we will hear about the attributes of GTD from Robb Dimmick and renowned public art sculptor, Vinnie Bagwell. Robb Dimmick of Stages of Freedom will speak on the importance of recognizing Mr. Downing, entrepreneur and civil rights advocate for combatting racism. Sculptor, Vinnie Bagwell, will talk about her process in creating the model. Charles Roberts will help explain the clothing selected for this 8-ft bronze statue, Dandyism, dynamic fashion depicting wealth and public standing. His statue will be placed in the park he contributed to, facing the land on Bellevue Avenue he held where he built his elegant Sea Girt Hotel and supper club.
Come early for onsite parking.
This program is part of our $250K campaign to raise the funds needed to pay the artist, to fabricate and install the first statue to a person of color in Newport. Be a part of history by contributing today!
Purchase tickets online below for $50 or at the door for $55. Contact Margaret Baker 401-339-2209 with any questions.
Can’t attend but would like to contribute? Use our Fund-a-need donation form on the RISHM website and select the Downing Commemorative Public Art Project.
Join us on April  11th and see the Maquette
for one of America’s First Black Dandies.
International Woman’s Day has been recognized by the United Nation since March of 1975. In the United States, March has been designated as a time to acknowledge and celebrate the accomplishments on woman throughout American history.
Charles Roberts, founder RI Slave History Medallions (RISHM), attended the United Nations Special Events Dinner on March 17th and Speech in UN Conference Room 11 on March 18th on Womans Gender Enqualty and Empowerment in Africa. He addressed the dining and speaking group about the RISHM organization and its production of the RI 250th Juneteenth Semiquincentennial Celebration scheduled for June 20th and 21st 2026 in Newport. The Dinner ws video recorded for the Defining Moments Press TV.
The third season of RISHM’s Newport Black History Walking Tours will begin on Memorial Day weekend on Saturday May 23, starting at 10:00am, leaving from 13 Bowen’s Wharf, the corner of Market Street and America’s Cup Avenue, near the ticket office, the Pilot House.
We will travel up to Trinity Church and into the heart of African American activity in the colony of Newport, the Historic District. We honor those who lived in bondage and resisted until they had their freedom. The tour season ends on October Saturday, October 31st. Please join us to hear their stories of black excellence.
Newport’s 2026 Juneteenth Celebration
Summer 2026 – RISHM will honor Rhode Island’s Semi-quincentennial (RI250) as part of Newport’s 2026 Juneteenth Celebration at Fort Adams State Park, highlighted by the presence of the historic flagship Oliver Hazard Perry. More information about RISHM’s sponsorship of this program will be shared soon.
Let’s Make History Together
Annual Campaign
Thank you one and all for your generous gifts during our recent 401Gives 2026 campaign. Â
Together, all things are possible! Your gift, in any amount, is urgently needed so we can continue our programming, and help foster greater understanding and bridge cultural divides.
Thank you so much for your tax-deductible contribution. To donate, please click on the button below, visit the DONATE page on our website, www.
In addition to our private donors and sponsors, we extend our sincere gratitude to these supporters:
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RI State Legislators, RI Commerce, Black Philanthropy Bannister Fund, Bank Newport, Prince Charitable Trusts, Gruben Charitable Foundation, Heritage Harbor Foundation, RI Foundation’s Newport County Fund, and Community Gifts from the generous grants and supporters over the years.
Our mission is to tell the forgotten stories of Rhode Island’s free and enslaved African-American and Indigenous peoples. Through our statewide initiative to install interactive markers at historic sites, we engage in research, present public education programs, and build community partnerships to bring awareness to our state’s dominant role in the institution of American slavery and to the effects of that legacy today.  www.
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.Â
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.
