The White House will present a Juneteenth concert on Tuesday night, June 13 on the South Lawn in Washington DC.
The event on the South Lawn will be a community celebration that celebrates culture and music.
Performing artists include Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, singer and talk show host Jennifer Hudson and Cliff “Method Man” Smith, a member of the legendary hip-hop group the Wu-Tang Clan.
Also performing will be the Hampton University Choir, Morgan State University Marching Band, Step Afrika! and “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band,” the White House said in a statement. Press release.
June 19 marks the time the last enslaved people in the United States were freed in 1885 in Galveston, Texas. There the American soldiers told the black slaves that they would be freed.
“This is a day of deep weight and power, a day that we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take,” President Joe Biden said in 2021 after signing legislation bipartisan that establishes June 16 as a federal holiday, so that all Americans can learn from history, celebrate progress; recognize and participate in the work that continues day by day.
