ODESSA, Texas —
The First Baptist Church of Odessa and the Black Cultural Council of Odessa welcomed Grammy-winning artist Fred Hammond Wednesday for a night of live music and celebration.
Hammond said that celebrating Juneteenth on this scale has been a long time coming.
“It’s good to know that now we can recognize it and that it’s embraced by the entire culture Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, whatever,” Hammond said. “Man it's good to be able to do it multiculturally, to be able to have us here together, all colors, all nationalities, to be able to say ‘man listen, let’s enjoy each other.'”
This is just one of many ways Midland and Odessa are getting into the Juneteenth spirit this week. For a full list of other events in the Permian Basin, click here.