Wednesday 20 January 2021
Douglas Emhoff, US Vice President Kamala Harris, Dr Jill Biden and US President Joe Biden look down the National Mall as lamps are lit to honour the nearly 400,000 American victims of the coronavirus pandemic at the Lincoln Memorial
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Between restrictions on account of the pandemic and high security after the pro-Trump riots in the Capitol earlier this month, incoming President Joe Biden’s inauguration will certainly be an atypical affair. There’ll be no mass public gatherings, no lavish Inauguration Balls and outgoing President Donald Trump has refused to even attend – a historical rarity.
Amanda Gorman, a 22-year-old Los Angeles woman, became the youngest inaugural poet when she performed an original poem at President Joe Biden's swearing-in ceremony Wednesday.
Amanda Gorman, the nation's first-ever youth poet laureate, challenged Americans Wednesday to "leave behind a country better than the one we were left" and unify as she delivered a stirring inauguration poem.
fashion
Updated 20th January 2021
Written by Allyssia Alleyne, CNN
Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez may have been the headline acts of President Joe Biden s inauguration, but it was 22-year-old Amanda Gorman, the first national youth poet laureate, who delivered the event s true standout performance.
Gorman, who became the youngest poet to read at an inauguration ceremony, moved dignitaries in attendance and viewers at home with her reading The Hill We Climb, her powerful poem calling for togetherness as America enters a new chapter. But she also caused a buzz with her vibrant outfit, which channeled the optimism of the occasion, and the jewelry she wore, though small on television screens, carried touching personal sentiment.