(AllHipHop News) The launch of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture will be commemorated with a three-day festival.
“Freedom Sounds: A Community Celebration” will take place on the Washington Monument grounds in Washington, DC beginning on September 23.
Seminal Hip Hop groups Public Enemy and The Roots will perform at the event.
In addition, Living Colour, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Experience Unlimited are part of the line-up.
The festival will celebrate musical genres such as jazz, R&B, gospel, folk, classical, and New Orleans brass band. Workshops, storytelling, and food service are part of the extravaganza as well.
“The themes of the festival highlight the social power of African-American music as a communicator of cultural values, challenges, aspirations and creative expression,” stated Mark Puryear, a Smithsonian Folklife Festival program curator and co-curator of the festival.
President Barack Obama helped break ground for the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2012. The gallery is set to open on September 24.
Over 36,000 artifacts are part of the collection at the new museum. Visitors will get to view items once owned by Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Nat Turner, James Brown, Muhammad Ali, J Dilla, and other notable African-Americans.
The “Freedom Sounds: A Community Celebration” will run from Friday, September 23 through Sunday, September 25. Public Enemy and The Roots are scheduled for the Saturday evening concert.
