President Joe Biden risks calling slavery America’s “original sin”

America’s past unveils its history of slavery; Joe Biden names it “America’s original sin.”

“More than 400 years ago, twenty enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to the shores of what would become the United States,” the statement recalled. “Millions more were stolen and sold in the centuries that followed, in a system of slavery that is the original sin of the United States.”

The White House issued the statement in recognition of efforts to designate August 20 as Slavery Remembrance Day in the United States.

Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Al Green introduced a joint resolution last year to establish Slavery Memorial Day.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, millions of people were kidnapped from Africa and enslaved in the American colonies to produce cash crops such as tobacco and cotton.

In the mid-19th century, an entanglement of westward expansion and an abolitionist movement in the United States sparked fierce debates about slavery that would divide the nation in the bloody Civil War.

Although the Union victory freed millions of slaves across the United States, the negative legacy of slavery continued to exist in the United States, particularly in the form of racism and discrimination, which remain severe today.

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President Joe Biden risks calling slavery America’s “original sin”

Home » President Joe Biden risks calling slavery America’s “original sin”

America's past unveils its history of slavery; Joe Biden names it "America's original sin." "More than 400 years ago, twenty enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to the shores of what would become the United States," the statement recalled. "Millions more were stolen and sold in the centuries that followed, in a system of slavery that is the original sin of the United States." The White House issued the statement in recognition of efforts to designate August 20 as Slavery Remembrance Day in the United States. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Al Green introduced a joint resolution last year to establish Slavery Memorial Day. During the 17th and 18th centuries, millions of people were kidnapped from Africa and enslaved in the American colonies to produce cash crops such as tobacco and cotton. In the mid-19th century, an entanglement of westward expansion and an abolitionist movement in the United States sparked fierce debates about slavery that would divide the nation in the bloody Civil War. Although the Union victory freed millions of slaves across the United States, the negative legacy of slavery continued to exist in the United States, particularly in the form of racism and discrimination, which remain severe today.