[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 109 (Thursday, June 6, 2013)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 34243-34244]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-13643]



[[Page 34241]]

Vol. 78

Thursday,

No. 109

June 6, 2013

Part III





The President





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Proclamation 8992--African-American Music Appreciation Month, 2013
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  Federal Register / Vol. 78 , No. 109 / Thursday, June 6, 2013 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 34243]]

                Proclamation 8992 of May 31, 2013

                
African-American Music Appreciation Month, 2013

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Since our Nation's founding, people from every walk of 
                life have set out to capture the American experience 
                not just in poetry or prose, but also in the timeless 
                quality of song. When the outcome of a revolution hung 
                in the balance, drums and fifes filled brave patriots 
                with the strength to carry on. When slavery kept 
                millions in bondage, spirituals gave voice to a dream 
                of true and lasting freedom. Through every generation, 
                music has reflected and renewed our national 
                conversation, bringing us together and reminding us of 
                the humanity we share.

                African Americans have always had a hand in shaping the 
                American sound. From gospel and Motown to bebop and 
                blues, their story is bound up in the music they made--
                songs of hurt and hardship, yearning and hope, and 
                struggle for a better day. Those feelings speak to 
                something common in all of us. With passion and 
                creativity, African-American performers have done more 
                than reinvent the musical styles they helped define; 
                they have channeled their music into making change and 
                advancing justice, from radio booths to the stage to 
                our city streets.

                That story is still unfolding today. We see it in the 
                young poet putting his words to a beat; the 
                conservatory student perfecting her technique; the jazz 
                musician making old melodies new again. During African-
                American Music Appreciation Month, let us celebrate 
                these artists and the generations who inspired them, 
                and let us reflect on our heritage as a Nation forever 
                enriched by the power of song.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States, do hereby proclaim June 2013 as African-
                American Music Appreciation Month. I call upon public 
                officials, educators, and all the people of the United 
                States to observe this month with appropriate 
                activities and programs that raise awareness and foster 
                appreciation of music that is composed, arranged, or 
                performed by African Americans.

[[Page 34244]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2013-13643
Filed 6-5-13; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F3