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Parade
A procession through the streets of Annapolis that turns history into something you can hear, see, and stand inside of.
Annapolis, Maryland
Preserving History. Celebrating Freedom. Building Legacy.
Celebrate Annapolis Juneteenth Corporation preserves, celebrates, and elevates the African American story of Annapolis and the surrounding region.
60,000+
People welcomed to Annapolis
6
Years of Parade, Festival & Gala
1
Shared story, told in full
Our mission
Cultural Freedom is not simply a celebration.
Through cultural programming, historical interpretation, education, the arts, and community engagement, the organization ensures that African American history is understood as an opportunity to examine the continuing journey from enslavement to freedom, citizenship, achievement, and cultural influence.
Our mission is to celebrate African American freedom while creating opportunities to learn from the past, strengthen community in the present, and invest in the future.
Over time, that mission has grown beyond an annual Juneteenth observance into a broader vision for cultural preservation and community legacy.
The celebration
Over the past six years, more than 60,000 people have come to Annapolis.
The Annapolis Juneteenth Parade, Festival, and Gala welcomes the region to celebrate African American freedom, history, culture, and achievement. Freedom Way has been the tool for learning, sharing, and reflecting each year.
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Festival
Music, food, art, and vendors gathering neighbors and visitors around African American culture and achievement.
03
Gala
An evening honoring the leaders, partners, and traditions that carry the work forward year after year.
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Education & Scholarship
Programming for youth and adults, and scholarship opportunities that invest directly in the next generation.
Education & opportunity
A platform for learning, awareness, and opportunity.
Beyond celebration, the Annapolis Juneteenth experience has created educational experiences for youth and adults and, in previous years, has provided scholarship opportunities designed to invest directly in the next generation.
Together, the Parade, Festival, Gala, educational initiatives, and scholarship efforts reflect a single larger purpose: history preserved, freedom celebrated, legacy built. This year, the corporation will focus our efforts on the opening Freedom House- a cultural museum and soul food experience, and Freedom Way:The Abstract- an exhibition to be hosted at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts.
June 2027 · Maryland Hall
Freedom Way: The Abstract
A new interpretation of the Freedom Way story that moves beyond the traditional historical exhibition and explores the African American freedom journey through contemporary artistic expression.
Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts will host a translation of the history, emotion, struggle, resilience, and aspirations documented in the original 100-foot exhibition into a multidisciplinary arts experience.
A two-room exhibition will feature works developed through collaborations between Dr. Craig Coates and participating artists — Maryland Hall resident artists alongside middle and high school students — inviting different generations and disciplines to interpret selected themes, events, individuals, and ideas from Freedom Way in their own creative voices.
Rather than simply illustrating history, the artists are encouraged to respond to it — creating work that explores what enslavement, resistance, emancipation, identity, justice, resilience, and freedom mean across generations.
A public lecture and presentation in Maryland Hall's main auditorium will accompany the exhibition, providing historical context and creating a larger community conversation around the continuing African American pursuit of freedom and equality.
Together, Freedom Way and Freedom Way: The Abstract bridge history and contemporary culture. One documents the journey; the other asks a new generation of artists and audiences to interpret it.
FROM THE 2022 EXHIBITION ARCHIVE
What does it mean to be free — and what has the journey toward freedom required of those who refused to live without it?
Partners & supporters
Sustained by a broad network of community and corporate partners.
The annual celebration has grown through partners who provide the financial and community support necessary to sustain the festival each year.
Banking institutions
Truist Bank
Sandy Spring Bank
Shore United Bank
PNC Bank
Healthcare providers
Luminis Health
Aetna
Kaiser Permanente
Small businesses
Mercedes-Benz of Annapolis
K&B Ace Hardware
The Joint Chiropractic
Maryland LIVE! Casino
Nonprofit organizations
Kingdom Kare Inc.
Restoration Community Development Corporation
First Christian Community Church of Annapolis
Fresh Start Church
Civic stakeholders
Visit Annapolis & Anne Arundel County
City of Annapolis