In honor of Juneteenth, all proceeds sold on our Nu Shooz Bandcamp store on Friday, June 19, will be donated to the Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute. The Institute provides training and support for community-based organizations to increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities.
Bandcamp is also donating their portion of the proceeds from ALL music sold on their stores to the NAACP. There's a ton of fantastic music on Bandcamp. If you don't need any more Nu Shooz tunes, check out all the other bands who are there and support!
What is Juneteenth? There's a ton of history around this date. Here's a short version.
President Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation on Sep 22, 1862. It didn't become law until Jan 1, 1863. The quarter-million slaves in Texas didn't hear about it until the fall of the confederacy on April 9, 1865! The next day Union General Gordon Granger read general order #3, "In accordance with a proclamation from the executive if the United States, all slaves are free."
The following year, Freedmen in Texas announced an annual 'Jubilee Day' on June 19. By the 1890s, Jubilee Day became known as 'Juneteenth.'
As we all know, race relations in the U.S.A. still have miles to go, but Juneteenth was our country's start down that long and winding road.