Slavery is "America's original sin," U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
"More than 400 years ago, twenty enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to the shores of what would become the United States," the statement said. "Millions more were stolen and sold in the centuries that followed, part of a system of slavery that is America's original sin."
The White House issued the statement to recognize efforts to designate Aug. 20 as Slavery Remembrance Day in the United States.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Al Green introduced a joint resolution last year to establish Slavery Remembrance Day.