LOS ANGELES — June is Black Music Month, but this year, it also marks the first time Juneteenth was celebrated as a federal holiday.

One curator in South Los Angeles compiled more than 100 pictures, memorabilia and documents to honor civil rights, Black writers, inventors, musicians and more to commemorate both.

The exhibit is where Black culture meets African art in Leimert Park, curator Albert Lord said while pointing to the extensive collection of historical artifacts.

"This is the only public exhibition of the Emancipation Proclamation in Southern California," Lord said.

Lord works as the vice president of Government Relations and Arts Programs at Community Build, a South LA hub of resources where he produced the exhibit.

But Lord's background is actually in entertainment. He showed a picture that's part of an exhibit of him with famous musician Little Richard during one of Lord's first gigs as the first Black production director of a San Francisco radio station, where Lord fell in love with Black music. It's what motivated him to showcase the stories of an entire wall full of trailblazing Black artists.

"No one has done more for elevating or energizing the music industry than brother Stevie Wonder," Lord said while pointing to Wonder's picture on the wall.

But Lord explained how he was only able to land that radio job through affirmative action because he could pass for white. Historically it's a record of discrimination against Blacks that Lord details in the exhibit and said is still very prevalent to this day.

"We're still going through the same crisis," he said. "Right now, we have to struggle with the suppression of the vote, which was core to the freedom that Blacks had then achieved as a result of the 15th Amendment when men were given the right to vote."

They are lessons one future Black voter is learning for the first time. Jarius Hawthorne, 11, recently visited the exhibit with his twin on a field trip. Jarius noted that it's important for him to see documents like the Emancipation Proclamation because he's never even learned about slavery in school.

As an aspiring lawyer, Jarius said that hearing about this history from Lord is an eye-opening experience.

Robert Sausedo, president and CEO of Community Build, said that by the time Jarius is his age, Sausedo wants society's appreciation for Black influence to be much stronger.

Sausedo asked Lord to bring the exhibit to Leimert Park because it's the center of African American culture and arts.

"We want a place at the table. We don't want a place on the menu. And that's what we've been, is a place on the menu, and we're going from that to really honoring and showcasing our value," Sausedo said.

With the passing of Juneteenth as a national holiday, Lord weighed in on what's to come.

"Making it a national holiday in itself is monumental, but will there be programs? Will there be substance? Will there be things done to try to explain why we are in the crisis that we're in when it comes to social justice?"

The exhibit is located outdoors along Degnan Boulevard and 43rd Street in Leimert Park. It is self-guided and free every day until the end of July.