NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Black Music Appreciation Month festivities continue Friday in Music City. The National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) will host a State of Black Music Summit and a Juneteenth Block Party.
The summit is a one-day event that features a variety of panels to explore how Black music and culture intersect. This will feature music industry leaders, top artists, and media personalities. They will be discussing things like the intersection of music and fashion, sports, politics, and more.
Then on Saturday, the museum will hold a special dedication ceremony and host a free block party at Fifth and Broadway to celebrate Juneteenth. The museum’s curator Dr. Steven Lewis says music and the now federal holiday go hand in hand.
“The historical record indicates that, of course you know prior to emancipation, enslaved people had developed the spirituals, which are the religious songs that were integral parts of worship, ceremonies in African American communities, and after emancipation spirituals, in particular, were a very important way of celebrating freedom, you know, actually the, the, the words to some of these traditional songs were changed into kind of more overt celebrations of the end of slavery,” said Lewis.
The summit is being live streamed at 9:30 a.m. The block party tomorrow is at 11 a.m. It’s free and you can RSVP on the museum’s website now.
