Historic White House Gathering Celebrates Descendants of Civil Rights Icons

By Stacy M. Brown | NNPA (NNPA) – In a Black History Month event at the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 13, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the descendants of some of the most influential civil rights leaders from the 1950s and ’60s, along with other foundational historical figures. The gathering marked the first time many of those families convened in the same room. Prominent figures such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Emmett Till, Thomas Jefferson, and Sally Hemings were scheduled to attend. Harris praised the descendants as “extraordinary American heroes” who embody the promise of the nation and the Constitution. “They’ve passed the baton to us,” Harris remarked during her address. Stephen K. Benjamin, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, outlined the administration’s initiatives, including an executive order related to police accountability and President Joe Biden’s signing of the law establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. The group, known as “The Descendants,” gathered to pay homage to their familial legacies in celebration of Black History Month. One of the coordinators, Joshua Jordison, revealed that discussions to bring this diverse group together began several years ago....