Boris Johnson Gifts Joe Biden Mural Photo With A Nod To Black Lives Matter

Boris Johnson's gift to Joe Biden is a nod to the Black Lives Matter movement that has pushed race relations to the fore in both countries.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave U.S. President Joe Biden a framed photograph of a British mural depicting Black 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the British leader's office said on Thursday. Biden reciprocated by presenting Johnson, a keen cyclist, with a U.S.-made bicycle and helmet and giving a silk scarf and leather bag made by military wives for his wife Carrie. Johnson's gift, presented during a G7 summit which marks Biden's first official overseas engagement and a chance to reaffirm trans-Atlantic ties, is a nod to the Black Lives Matter movement that has pushed race relations to the fore in both countries. Douglass escaped slavery in the United States, going on to become an abolitionist leader who toured Britain and Ireland, with which Biden has ancestral ties.