Juneteenth is a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Despite the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, declaring “that all persons held as slaves” be freed, the news didn’t reach Texas until two years later on June 19, 1865. Black Americans began using this day to pray and spend time with their remaining family members, and the holiday grew in popularity over time. You can learn more about this holiday here.
Today, Juneteenth is a time to celebrate African American freedom, education, and achievement.
If you’re looking for a way to celebrate and support, we’re proud to be a promotional partner for Sweet Honey in the Rock’s virtual Juneteeth celebration, streaming live from the Lincoln Theatre tonight at 8pm ET. In addition to promoting this event, FAI is making a financial contribution to benefit the Equal Justice Initiative.
We invite you to spend this day taking the time for education and celebration. Happy Juneteenth.
19 Black Folk Musicians to Support
As a music industry organization, we’d like to take this day to celebrate Black folk musicians, who are boundary-breaking storytellers that we’re honored to have in our community. Listen to these musicians, buy their music and merch, tell your friends about them, and continue to support them beyond this day. We encourage you to buy their music directly from the artists, or through Bandcamp who will be donating 100% of their proceeds on Juneteenth to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
This list is by no means comprehensive, but intended as a starting point for music discovery. We’ve also created a Juneteenth Spotify playlist that includes over fifty different Black folk musicians to listen to.