The mission of the Roxbury Unity Parade is to celebrate Roxbury’s history, culture, beauty and resilience. The Roxbury Unity Parade empowers and provides resources to Roxbury residents through collaboration with local and state agencies, businesses and nonprofit organizations.
The Roxbury Unity Parade is the brainchild of Toy Burton. In 2018, after moving back to Boston, Toy felt that it was long overdue that the city and Roxburyians celebrated the history, culture, beauty and resilience of Roxbury. The neighborhood known as Boston’s Black Heartbeat, Roxbury, was deserving of its own parade. Toy got to work on making her vision a reality and the rest is history.
Founder and Executive Director, Toy Burton, hosts the inaugural Roxbury Unity Parade.
The Roxbury Unity Parade is the only parade that was not cancelled due to COVID-19. Though the community was not able to walk due to protocols, the caravan was just as celebratory.
The Roxbury Unity Parade presented a Caravan for Sarah-Ann Shaw. Sarah-Ann Shaw was an American-born journalist and television reporter with WBZ-TV from 1969 to 2000. She was most prominently renowned as the first female African-American reporter to be televised in Boston.