Fact check: Obama administration celebrated both Black music and Pride months in June
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The claim: Obama changed Black Music Month to Pride Month
President Joe Biden has declared June Black Music Appreciation Month, which is in keeping with a more-than-40-year trend of U.S. presidents recognizing Black music in June.
A recent social media post suggested that hasn't always been the case, though.
A June 15 Instagram post claimed that during President Barack Obama's tenure he changed Black Music Month to Pride Month. The post received more than 5,000 likes in a day.
The post read in part, "On June 7th 1979 President (Jimmy) Carter declared the month of June to be Black Music Month. For 30 years this has been the case until President Obama during 2009 hijacked Black Music Month and changed it to Pride month."
But that's not the case. Black Music Appreciation Month was celebrated before, during and after Obama was in office, according to White House records.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment.
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June has long honored Black music
During the eight years of Obama's presidency, his administration celebrated both Pride Month and African American Music Appreciation Month every June, according to White House records from 2009 to 2016.
The month-long celebration of Black music has taken on multiple titles since 1979, when President Jimmy Carter first designated June as Black Music Month, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. In 2009 Obama changed the title of the celebration to African American Music Appreciation Month, White House records show.
Pride Month dates back to 1999, when it was first proclaimed as such by President Bill Clinton, according to records archived by the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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Our rating: False
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Obama changed Black Music Month to Pride Month. Both Pride Month and Black Music Month, by their various names, were celebrated long before Obama was president, every year during Obama’s tenure and after Obama left the White House.
Our fact-check sources:
The White House, June 2, 2009, African-American Music Appreciation Month
The White House, May 28, 2010, Presidential Proclamation- African-American Music Appreciation Month
The White House, May 31, 2011, Presidential Proclamation--African-American Music Appreciation Month
The White House, June 12, 2012, Presidential Proclamation -- African-American Music Appreciation Month, 2012
The White House, May 31, 2013, Presidential Proclamation -- African-American Music Appreciation Month, 2013
The White House, May 30, 2014, Presidential Proclamation -- African-American Music Appreciation Month, 2014
The White House, May 29, 2105, Presidential Proclamation - African-American Music Appreciation Month, 2015
The White House, May 31, 2016, Presidential Proclamation -- African-American Music Appreciation Month, 2016
The White House, June 1, 2009, Presidential Proclamation - LGBT Pride Month
The White House, May 31, A Proclamation on Black Music Appreciation Month, 2022
National Museum of African American History & Culture June 4, 2019, Celebrating Black Music Month
The American Presidency Project, accessed June 16, Proclamation 7203—Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, 1999
Library of Congress, accessed June 16, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Black Music Appreciation Month has 40 year history
