Obama publicly framed American history as defined by forward racial progress

Evidence

Obama, himself an avatar of that progress, knew he had to explain this in his address. “Yes, our progress has been uneven,” he said. “For every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back. But the long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all and not just some.” — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1236