At Juneteenth concert, Biden declares: ‘Black history is American history’

President Joe Biden on Monday night hosted an early Juneteenth celebration at the White House, the second time his administration has held a concert to commemorate the national holiday marking when the last enslaved people in the U.S. learned they were freed. In remarks on the South Lawn, the president warned of “old ghosts in new garments trying to take us back,” condemning what he described as efforts to limit the right to vote or erase Black history via book bans in states across the country. “Our history is not just about the past,” the president said. “It’s about our present and our future. It’s whether that future is a future for all of us, not just for some of us.” “Black history is American history,” Biden declared. Monday’s event marked the second time the Biden administration has celebrated the holiday with a concert. It comes after Biden in 2021 signed into law the establishment of Juneteenth as the nation’s 12th federal holiday to commemorate the day in 1865 when Union troops descended on Galveston, Texas, to bring the news that those enslaved were free — more than two years after then-President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Gladys Knight...