Celebrating Juneteenth

Explore this page to find resources, events and other opportunities to recognize and celebrate the Juneteenth holiday. Now an official holiday in the state of Massachusetts, this annual event commemorates the June 19, 1865 notification to enslaved people in Texas that slavery had ended two years earlier in the United States. To share additional opportunities email ann@providers.org.

Trainings & Events

 

Talking About Race and Racism in Tumultuous Times

June 16; 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Online via Zoom

In this session, we will dig deeply into the concepts of race and racism and will address microaggressions and the importance of representation as well as how intersectionality impacts our experiences. Participants will engage in activities to reflect on their own identities and how that relates to their experiences with race and racism. We will explore what we learn (or don’t learn) about U.S. history within a context of racist structures and then bring the focus from the historical context to the current context and how we can move forward together.

Presented by: Sonia D’Alarcao and Felicia Heywood

Register Here!

 

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) Roundtable: Celebrating Pride Month and Supporting the Trans and Nonbinary Communities

June 23; 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.

Online via Zoom

Join our quarterly DEIB Roundtable for a facilitated discussion on the history of Pride Month and how best to support the trans and nonbinary communities during uncertain times. The session will highlight important events and figures that helped shape LGBTQ+ history and offer attendees insights on how they can be an ally and resource for staff, clients and their community. 

Register Here!

Resources

What is your agency doing to celebrate Juneteenth?

  • Giving employees paid time off
  • Honoring Juneteenth in the workplace (e.g. guest speakers, sponsored trainings, events and activities)
  • Participate in local Juneteenth events
  • Create a flexible holiday policy
  • Provide volunteer opportunities for staff
  • Support Black and Brown businesses in your community

Contact ann@providers.org if you would like to add what your agency is doing to this list!

Events Happening

 

June 6, 2026

Northampton Juneteenth Festival

📍EJ Gare Plaza, 2 Brewster Ct, Northampton, MA

🕒 Marketplace & Pouring Station: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. | Live performance & Art: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Get ready to honor, celebrate, and dance! 🎉 The Northampton Juneteenth Festival is a vital community gathering dedicated to celebrating Black liberation, excellence, and joy. By centering Black artists, business owners, and community leaders, we’re creating a space for connection, creativity, and pride that’s free and open to all.

June 16, 2026

📍ABCD Thelma D. Burns Building 575 Warren Street Boston, MA 02121

🕒 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Children’s Services of Roxbury (CSR) will host ROXTalks Live: Freedom to Thrive, a Juneteenth inspired event exploring the intersection of healing, opportunity, and economic mobility in communities of color. The in-person event is inviting-only, but the general public is encouraged to watch and join the conversation via livestream on CSR’s Facebook feed. 

Grounded in lived experience and community-informed solutions, the program will feature two panel discussions designed to address the roles of access, support, leadership, and aligned investment in creating lasting pathways to long-term economic stability, growth, and generational impact. McCroom will lead the panel conversations with moderator Paris Alston, host of GBH News Rooted.

Part 1: “Pathways to Freedom: Healing, Access, and Opportunity” will explore how healing, stability, and culturally responsive support are essential to unlocking opportunity and sustaining long-term economic mobility in communities of color. This panel features:

  • Reverend Liz Walker: Retired Journalist; Author; Founding Director, Can We Talk Network
  • Kim Janey: President & CEO, EMPath; Former Mayor of Boston 
  • Connor Schoen: Co-founder & Executive Director, Breaktime

Part 2: “Investing for Impact: Ownership, Access, and Economic Possibility” will examine how public, private, and philanthropic leaders can better align investment, decision-making, and community-informed solutions to advance sustainable economic mobility. This panel features:

  • Turahn Dorsey: President & CEO, Eastern Bank Foundation
  • Nicole Obi: President & CEO, Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA)
  • Darryl Settles: Real Estate Developer, Investor, Restaurateur, and Civic Organizer

 

June 18, 2026

Celebrate Juneteenth

📍Kendall/MIT; 292 Main Street, Cambridge, MA

🕒 12 p.m.  – 2 p.m.

Celebrate Juneteenth (a day early!) with live reggae from Roots Alley Collective featuring special guest Dion Knibb, plus delicious food truck options, lawn games, and more. Presented in collaboration with MIT Sloan School of Management and MIT’s African, Black, American, Caribbean (ABAC) Employee Resource Group. Music curated by New England Jazz Collaborative.

 

Juneteenth Flag Raising Ceremony

📍City Hall Plaza Boston, MA

🕒 12 p.m.  – 2 p.m.

Join the City of Boston for our annual Juneteenth Flag Raising Ceremony as we honor Black liberation, resilience, culture, and community. Theme for 2026 “Juneteenth Brings Balance to America’s Celebration of Freedom”. The ceremony will feature remarks from City leaders, a keynote address, a flag raising, musical performances, cultural traditions, food, and community gathering.

 

June 19, 2026

Juneteenth Concert

📍Center Court in Tower Square; 1500 Main Street, Springfield, MA 01115

🕒 12 p.m.  – 6 p.m.

Join us for a vibrant celebration of community, culture, and music at this year’s Juneteenth Concert! On Friday, June 19, 2026, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra partners with White Lion Brewing Company and 6 Bricks to present a special afternoon of live chamber music in Center Court at Tower Square. This free, family-friendly event is open to all—come gather, reflect, and celebrate. The freedom concert will begin at 3 PM!

 

Juneteenth at the Museum of Fine Arts

📍Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115

🕒 10 a.m.  – 10 p.m.

All Massachusetts residents on June 19 in honor of Juneteenth, the oldest nationally observed commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Join us for performances, participate in art-making activities, catch a talk, see art, and more. Activities are for visitors of all ages and abilities unless otherwise noted.

 

Juneteenth at PEM

📍161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970

🕒 11 a.m.  –  3 p.m.

Join us to celebrate and reflect on the meaning of Juneteenth through art making. Learn about the symbolism behind the Juneteenth flag and make your own freedom flag. Salem residents and youth under age 16 always receive free admission!

 

June 20, 2026

2026 Juneteenth Festival

📍Institute Park, 99 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609

🕒 12 p.m.  – 8 p.m.

Join The Black Heritage Committee for our 29th Annual Juneteenth Festival! This is an all-ages event rooted in cultural expression, community building, and honoring the past struggles and triumphs in hope that we can envision a better future for the descendants of enslaved people in this country.

 

Annual Juneteenth Freedom Day

📍Franklin Park, Shattuck Picnic Grove Boston, MA 02124

🕒 11 a.m.  – 7 p.m.

Juneteenth is more than a date on the calendar. It’s a celebration of the freedom, resilience, and joy that our communities build together every single day. This annual gathering brings together families, neighbors, community organizations, civic partners, and culture bearers from across Boston and the Commonwealth to honor Juneteenth and celebrate the ongoing work of Black freedom. This day is all about heritage and real connection. We’re creating a space for everyone to feel like they belong, right in the heart of one of Boston’s most historic parks.

 

Recurring Daily/Weekly

Salem Black History Tour

📍8 Central Street, Salem, MA 01970

📅 6/19/2026 | 8/1/2026 | 8/16/2026

🕒 11 a.m.  – 12:30 p.m.

Salem’s rich history includes the infamous 1692 Witchcraft Trials, its significance during the American Revolution and what was once the number one seaport per capita in the USA. But few are aware of the incredible contributions of Blacks and African-Americans in our city. Four years after Gov. John Winthrop wrote the state’s first slavery law in 1634, the ship Desire traveled to Providence Island (Bahamas) and traded local indigenous men for African Americans. They received their freedom in the next century and began to make great strides in the community and major contributions to Salem and the state by influencing policy, establishing businesses and leading the abolitionist movement.

 

Roxbury International Film Festival

📍Various Locations in Boston

📅 6/18/2026 – 7/2/2026

The Roxbury International Film Festival is the largest festival in New England that celebrates people of color. Over the course of 10 days the festival screens all genres of films, holds workshops and panel discussions and offers filmmakers the opportunity to network with each other as well as audience members. Screenings take place at the Museum of Fine Arts, Haley House Bakery Café, Hibernian Hall, and other sites in and around Roxbury. The Roxbury International Film Festival is a competitive festival that awards certificates in the categories of Audience Favorite, Narrative Film, Documentary Film, Narrative Short, Documentary Short, Youth, Emerging Filmmaker Award and a special award named after award-winning filmmaker Henry Hampton. Our goal is simply to screen films that celebrate and present more diverse images of people around the world.

 

Boston: underground Railroad History Tour of Beacon Hill

📍Soldiers & Sailors Monument, Boston Common Boston, MA 02108

📅 Weekly on Sunday, Monday, Friday, & Saturday

🕒 10 a.m.

Explore hidden history on Beacon Hill’s Black Heritage Trail, learning stories from America’s “Second Revolution” prior to the U.S. Civil War. Our small-group walking tour delves deeply into the years 1833 to 1863, the tumultuous years leading toward Civil War. We walk in the footsteps of 19th-century Bostonians, all of whom grappled with the “peculiar institution” of racial enslavement in the U.S. With a captivating storytelling approach, Hub Town Tours provides the perfect introduction to Boston’s role in America’s “Second Revolution.” As we travel past landmarks from Civil War Boston, your guide shares the gripping story of local Bostonians finding their voices and demanding an end to injustice across their young nation.

 

Cultural Heroes

📍270 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02116

📅 Recurring Daily

Cultural Heroes features the first seven icons of an ongoing series of artists who were key role players for civil rights, putting their careers on the line. Sculpted in a moment of performance, these colossal portrait heads also represent various ways of handling clay, always with the intent to make the material and its treatment at least as important as the subject matter. The artist’s seven role models currently represented in the sculptures are Marian Anderson, Woody Guthrie, Billie Holiday, Lead Belly, Paul Robeson, Bessie Smith and Josh White.

 

Black Voices of the Revolution

📍46 Joy Street Boston, MA 02114

📅 Weekly on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, & Saturday

🕒 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Black Voices of the Revolution: Liberty, Emancipation, and the Struggle for Independence is now open! What do you do when a country cries out for liberty—but won’t offer it to you? In the shadowed alleys and crowded docks of Revolutionary-era Boston, Black men and women—enslaved and free—listened as white colonists thundered about freedom. They heard the speeches. They read the broadsides. But they knew: the liberty being shouted from the rooftops was not meant for them. Still, they stepped forward. Interact with AI-driven, holographic images of primary sources, and the men and women who represented the African American community in Massachusetts during the period from the 1620s to 1800. Ask questions of the interactive using a voice activated program or by simply typing your queries on a touchscreen.