LOS ANGELES – Every June since the 1970s, across the United States, musicians, fans and industry professionals celebrate Black Music Month. It is an opportunity to highlight the contributions of Black artists and position Black art at the center of American culture around the world. popular music and beyond.
Black Music Month The origins date back to 1979. That year, a decade after the Civil Rights era, President Jimmy Carter designated June as a time to celebrate the cultural and historical significance of black musicianship and held the first Black Music Month celebration on the White House lawn. This makes 2024 its 45th annual celebration.
But what inspired Black Music Month and how has it evolved?
Black Music Month was originally founded in 1979, but not by President Carter. Credit goes to Philadelphia soul pioneer Kenny Gamble of Gamble and Huff and a few other associates, said Naima Cochrane of the Black Music Action Coalition, an advocacy organization founded in June 2020 after a music industry blackout in response to murder of George Floyd.
“Black Music Month was founded by an organization called the Black Music Association,” she says.
Gamble based his organization, founded in 1978, on the Country Music Association because he saw how much power and influence they held in the country music world, Cochrane explains. He aimed to do the same for black stakeholders in the music industry. Among them were promoters, retailers, booking agents, venue owners, executives, artists and household names such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records.
Black Music Month, coincidentally, was created by Gamble, Cleveland radio DJ Ed Wright and media strategist Dyana Williams.
“Black Music Month was originally created to promote, protect and perpetuate the business of black music, not just to celebrate black music,” says Cochrane. “The slogan was originally ‘Black music is green’ and it was conceived as a way to drive retail sales to increase awareness of artists, but honestly, really to increase the business of black music, and not just to celebrate the history of black music.”
“It evolved into something different over the years… The original intention was lost,” she says. “The original purpose of the month was to prove that the black music business was profitable.”
Every June, Black Music Month is recognized with a presidential proclamation.
“During Black Music Month, we celebrate Black artists and creatives whose work has so often been a wave of change — not only defining the American songbook and culture, but also capturing our greatest hopes for the future and pushing us to march in forward together,” read President Joe Biden’s 2024 proclamation. “Black music is a staple of American art and a driving force of our culture – that’s why we must continue to open doors for the next generation of Black artists. ”
This year, Biden will once again celebrate Black Music Month with an eleventh month concert with Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Charlie Wilson, Kirk Franklin, Anthony Hamilton, Britney SpencerTrombone Shorty and more.
Under the Obama administration, Black Music Month was renamed African-American Music Appreciation Month, but it has since returned to its roots.
Black Music Month “is a recognition that black music is an original American art form and has an influence on almost every other American art form. But it was designed to boost the black music business for black stakeholders,” added Cochrane.
In the years since its inception, Black Music Month has often been used as a salute to the excellence of Black music: 30 days to celebrate Black musicianship across media platforms, museums, streaming platforms and more. But some worry that focusing on compliance could have limiting effects.
“I always felt conflicted: happy to see the elevation of black artists, but disappointed that Black Music Month only benefited superstars (and apparently handed the other 11 months to white musicians),” 4AD Records record label manager Nabil Ayers wrote about Black Music Month in 2021.
“Musically, the Black Music Month I knew in the 90s and 2000s focused on artists who could potentially sell the most records,” he continued. “But the reality is that it costs money to make music and financial support for artists. matters now more than ever.”
Of course, there are varying opinions. In 2016, Philadelphia resident Branford Jones started They Have the Range, a popular Instagram account with one million followers dedicated to showcasing black singers.
“When I created it, black music programming didn’t exist,” he says, noting some other performance pages that “didn’t post black people every day” and a modern dearth of programs like “Soul Train” or BET’s “106th and Park.”
“For They Have the Range, every month is Black Music Month,” says Jones, laughing. “But it’s important to have a Black Music Month, especially in a time when so many people are trying to erase historical context. … We know how much black people have contributed to the world when it comes to music.”
He cites the Hulu series “The 1619 Project” as an influence: “One of the things they said about black music is that it is unattainable. Every decade, (black music) has been able to shift, change and lead the masses.”
For him, Black Music Month is an opportunity for celebration that can last all year long – and it’s especially moving that it reaches the month that also celebrates the eleventh month.
“As time goes on, more brands will get involved, more people will get involved,” he says. “And that’s why it’s important to recognize it.”
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
