Actor and singer Patti LaBelle, Grammy-winning singer Gladys Knight, and comedian Roy Wood Jr. are among those featured in the lineup for a Juneteenth concert to be held on the White House’s South Lawn, the Biden administration announced Friday.
The concert, set for Monday, boasts award-winning Black artists from across music genres, from rap to gospel. Other featured artists include actor and singer Patina Miller, country singer Brittney Spencer, singer-songwriters Raheem DeVaughn and Anthony Hamilton, rapper Doug E. Fresh, musician Trombone Shorty, singer Charlie Wilson, Grammy-winning gospel singer and choirmaster Kirk Franklin and “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band.
The event comes days after more than 40 Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Shontel Brown (Ohio), introduced a resolution to recognize June as Black Music Month.
All American music — and music across the globe — has been informed and shaped by Black music in ways that “transcends genres and styles,” from Negro spirituals to heavy metal, the resolution declared.
“Black music has shaped my life, shaped America, and influenced so many music genres. Black music is the soundtrack of our struggle and joy,” Brown, co-chair of the Congressional Rock and Roll Caucus, said in a statement.
“During Black Music Month, we celebrate the Black artists and creatives whose work has so often been a tidal wave of change,” President Biden said in his June 2024 proclamation.
Bipartisan legislation signed into law by Biden made Juneteenth, celebrated June 19, the nation’s latest federal holiday in 2021. The holiday commemorates the day in 1865 that enslaved Americans in Galveston, Texas, received word they were free from bondage, more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Juneteenth concert is supported by the President’s Committee on Arts and the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, television network STARZ’s #TakeTheLead initiative, Adobe, LVMH North America’s Moët & Chandon and Hennessy USA.