Descendants of civil rights icons unite at the White House for a historic Black History Month gathering
Several descendants of some of the most prominent Civil Rights leaders from the ‘50s and ‘60s are gathering at the White House on Tuesday.
Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the descendants of some of the most prominent civil rights leaders from the 1950s and ’60s and other foundational historic figures, who gathered at the White House on Tuesday, some convening in the same room for the first time.
The families of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Emmett Till, and Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, among others, were scheduled to attend.
Harris praised the descendants of "extraordinary American heroes" who, she said, embody the promise of the nation and the Constitution.
"They've passed the baton to us," Harris said Tuesday.
Stephen K. Benjamin, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, followed Harris to recap the administration's initiatives, including an executive order tied to police accountability and Joe Biden's signing the law to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
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