    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 133, 116th Congress, 1st Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    Proclamation 9897 of May 31, 2019

    African-American Music Appreciation Month, 2019

    By the President of the United States of America

    A Proclamation

    Throughout American history, African-American music has reflected our
    Nation's challenges and triumphs and has always enriched our Nation's
    culture. During African-American Music Appreciation Month, we pay
    tribute to the talented and inspiring African-American artists who have
    given sound and voice to the full range of human emotions through the
    blues, jazz, gospel, rock and roll, rap, hip hop, and other genres.
    Last year, we lost one of our Nation's most beloved African-American
    musicians, songwriters, and singers, Aretha Franklin, the ``Queen of
    Soul.'' She was an 18-time Grammy Award winner and the first female
    artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During her
    extraordinary career, Franklin infused her talent and unmistakable style
    into gospel, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, jazz, and even opera. Her
    songs are treasures of the American music canon. A recipient of the
    Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Arts, Franklin's
    imprint on America's soundscape is timeless. She will forever reign as a
    luminary of African-American music.
    This month, we celebrate the countless contributions of African-American
    singers, composers, and musicians, who have influenced and shaped every
    genre and style of music. They have turned universally shared emotions
    and experiences of suffering, joy, passion, pain, faith, injustice, and
    love into art that speaks to the heart and spirit of any American.
    African-American music has the power to encourage, inspire, and affect
    social change. It transcends time, compelling generation after
    generation to sing, dance, think, and feel, and it endures in our
    culture, our history, our spirit, and our collective national soul.
    NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, 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 2019 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
    appreciation of African-American music.
    IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of
    May, in the year of our Lord two thousand nineteen, and of the
    Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
    third.
    DONALD J. TRUMP