Black Music Month is recognized in the month of June. Kenny Gamble first urged President Jimmy Carter to proclaim June as Black Music Month.
"Gamble, along with Philadelphia International Records and its Sounds of Philadelphia (TSOP)--led a delegation including the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach to the White House in 1979 for the very first observance of BMM. Dyana Williams, co-founder of the International Association of African American Music (IAAAM) and President of Influence Entertainment--and ex-wife of Kenny Gamble--was on the South Lawn of the White House on that momentous occasion 30 years ago."
Every democratic president since President Carter and President George W. Bush (3 times) has held a annual celebration event at the White House. It was not until President Clinton, however, that there was an "official" presidential proclamation of June as Black Music Month.
"Gamble, along with Philadelphia International Records and its Sounds of Philadelphia (TSOP)--led a delegation including the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach to the White House in 1979 for the very first observance of BMM. Dyana Williams, co-founder of the International Association of African American Music (IAAAM) and President of Influence Entertainment--and ex-wife of Kenny Gamble--was on the South Lawn of the White House on that momentous occasion 30 years ago."
Every democratic president since President Carter and President George W. Bush (3 times) has held a annual celebration event at the White House. It was not until President Clinton, however, that there was an "official" presidential proclamation of June as Black Music Month.
Here is Dyana Williams talking about the "official" founding of Black Music Month.
