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Kenya Barris and Pharrell will collaborate on a Juneteenth musical

“For us, this project isn’t about numbers; it’s about humanity.”

June 19, 2018

Kenya Barris and Pharrell will come together to create a stage musical about Juneteenth, Variety reports. Pharrell will write the music and lyrics, while Barris and his Black-ish colleague Peter Saji will write the libretto. The holiday commemorates the announcement of the end slavery in the United States after U.S. ships forced Texas landowners to free the last of their slaves on June 19, 1865.

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Barris has touched on Juneteenth before, airing an episode on Black-ish which celebrated the holiday. Speaking to Variety, the showrunner said, “For us, this project isn’t about numbers; it’s about humanity. Slavery is America’s recessive gene and it’s time we all dealt with it and what better way to have an audience swallow this dose of medicine than with amazing music and raw, honest, jaw-dropping comedy?”

Watch a clip from the Black-ish episode above.

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Thumbnail image courtesy of Frederick M. Brown via Getty Images.

Posted: June 19, 2018