History is always more complex and nuanced than everything being shovelled into the simple emotional responses that many people prefer.

I like Mr Sassi’s comment below that the significance was a positive message conveyed by Mrs Obama. The important thing is that “we don’t have slaves” in a civilized modern world — although in fact there is rather too much in the way of slavery and human trafficking that we need to keep making efforts against. It needs to be wiped out everywhere if our species is even to deserve continued survival.

(I also loved the apparently somewhat neglected point that the White House had been burnt down and rebuilt, so which one are we talking about, and was any slavery involved in the rebuilding?)