Boston Raises Juneteenth Flag in First Year as Official Federal, State, and City Holiday

BOSTON — July 22, 2026 — Boston marks Juneteenth for the first time as a simultaneous federal, state, and city legal holiday. Acting Mayor Kim Janey — sworn in March 24, 2021 as Boston's 55th mayor and its first woman and first Black mayor — headlined a City Hall ceremony featuring the English High School Drumline, the Area 51 Dance Team, and a flag raising accompanied by singer Danny Rivera performing "Lift Every Voice and Sing." District Attorney Rachel Rollins drew the sharpest line of the day: "Recognition is not reform. Celebration is not liberation," pointing to education, housing, and health care as ongoing obligations. State Representative Russell Holmes invoked Frederick Douglass's 1852 Fourth of July address and the murder of George Floyd as twin anchors for his call to residents to "be comfortable getting uncomfortable." Janey announced a summer "joy agenda" aimed at community healing after 16 months of COVID-19 disruption and called out persistent procurement, housing, and educational disparities as the true test of Juneteenth's meaning.