VP Harris misstates the length of slavery in U.S. during Juneteenth visit

Vice President Kamala Harris misstated the length of time Black persons were enslaved in America during an event Monday marking Juneteenth.

“Think about it in terms of the context of history, knowing that black people in America were not free for 400 years of slavery,” she told children at the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington.

The first Black slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619 and the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865, so the vice president was off by about 150 years.

“The vice president was referring to 400 years since slavery began,” a White House official said.

Harris, who made history as the first woman and woman of color to be vice president, visited the Smithsonian museum to mark the Juneteenth holiday that marks the June 19, 1865, announcement of the emancipation of enslaved persons in Texas.