Biden says 'history matters' at Black History Month White House ceremony

Brittney Griner makes first public appearance at NAACP Image Awards

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  President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris arrive with DuWayne Portis Jr, a youth leader at Chicago Youth Service Corps and a high school senior. AP

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  Mr Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. AFP

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  Mr Biden shakes hands with DuWayne. AP

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  Ms Harris makes remarks at the event to celebrate Black History Month. AP

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  US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries arrives for a reception celebrating Black History Month in the East Room of the White House. AFP

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  Representative James Clyburn arrives to hear Mr Biden speak at an event to celebrate Black History Month. AP

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  Mr Biden and Ms Harris gesture at the reception celebrating Black History Month. AFP

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  Ms Harris makes remarks at the reception. AFP

As Black History Month wraps up, US President Joe Biden and other prominent leaders marked the occasion on Monday and at the weekend.

Mr Biden hosted an event at the White House's East Room, where he praised the contribution of African Americans in the US to celebrate Black History Month, something presidents from both parties have done for decades.

"History matters and black history matters," Mr Biden said to an audience of black Congress members and government officials.

Americans "can't just choose to learn what we want to know", he said. They need to learn "the good, the bad, the truth and who we are as a nation."

Some conservative Republicans, most notably Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are pushing for changes to the way black history is taught in US schools.

"We will not as a nation build a better future for America by trying to erase America's past," the first black US Vice President Kamala Harris said before Mr Biden spoke.

About 50 million Americans, or 15 per cent of the US population, identify as "black alone" or "with another race", the US Census Bureau said in 2021.

Presidents in the past have often used Black History Month to note the unfulfilled promises made to black Americans.

Brittney Griner, a player in the Women's Basketball Association who was recently released from detention in Russia, made her first public appearance at the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People Image Awards at the weekend.

Griner used the moment to advocate for the return of US detainees abroad: "Let's keep fighting to bring home every American still detained overseas."