Pompano Beach is making sure everyone can enjoy a Juneteenth celebration even if they aren't ready to head to an in-person festival yet.
The Pompano Beach Cultural Center will be hosting a virtual jazz concert on Friday, June 18. The concert will be held at the Ali Cultural Arts Center at 7 p.m. There will be a performance by The Melton Mustafa Quintet, featuring acclaimed trumpeter Melton Mustafa Jr., and poetry by award-winning spoken word artist Eccentrich.
Eccentrich explains Juneteenth as the day that enslaved people in Texas finally got word they had been freed. It had taken 2 years for them to be told slavery had been abolished.
"We celebrate it as the day the slavery era as we know it, was over," she says.
Mustafa was born in Atlanta but raised in Miami. He's gathered some of South Florida's best musicians to put on a wonderful show.
"The arts, in general, are the way we express ourselves," he says. "Music is one of the things slaves used to have some type of relief...it's always been a way for us to express our pain."
The concert will be streamed live on the City of Pompano Beach’s Facebook page.
