On the same day that the estimated coronavirus death toll surpassed 400,000 lives lost in the U.S., President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and their spouses visited a somber national memorial at the Lincoln Memorial in honor of the victims.
With the Reflecting Pool as a backdrop, and 400 lights lit up in honor of the 400,000 dead, Lori Marie Key, a 29-year-old nurse from Livonia, Michigan, sang "Amazing Grace."
READ MORE: How communities across the country are honoring COVID victims
Key once sang the hymn during a shift change at St. Mary Mercy Hospital, which was captured on a video that went viral. She said it's been heartbreaking to work at her hospital's COVID unit.
"But when I am at work, I sing," she said. "It gives me strength during difficult times, and I believe it helps heal."
Biden delivered brief remarks after Key's performance, saying that: "To heal, we must remember. It's hard sometimes to remember. But that's how we heal. It's important to do that as a nation."
Harris' message to the nation was that her "abiding prayer is that we emerge from this ordeal with a new wisdom, to cherish simple moments, to imagine new possibilities, and to open our hearts, just a little bit more, to one another."
Sustain our coverage of culture, arts and literature.
In death, Leonard Cohen is having a rebirth. The legendary singer is being remembered by older and younger generations alike…
Alec Baldwin's Western "Rust" had its world premiere Wednesday at a film festival in Poland, three years after the shooting…
In her new collection of columns from The Wall Street Journal, Pulitzer Prize-winner Peggy Noonan takes readers on a journey…
If you've ever wanted to own a piece of Hollywood history, now's your chance. A pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers…
When Centurion was founded, it was the first group of its kind working to overturn wrongful convictions for people facing…
As major American museums reexamine their collections to ensure diversity and inclusion, there's a growing realization that they need more…
As a dancer, choreographer, director and speaker, Jamison's distinguished career leaped over barriers of race and gender.
In the 1980s, about 70 percent of clothes sold in the U.S. were made in the country. Today, it's down…
This is her first time receiving nominations in the country and Americana categories.
For many Muslim and Arab Americans, Israel's wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and the wider Middle East are personal, and so…
A giant in the music and entertainment industry has died. Quincy Jones, known to many as 'Q,' was revered as…
Jones rose from music school dropout to the very heights of show business, becoming one of the first Black executives…
Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on "Saturday Night Live" in the final days before the presidential election, playing herself…
During the final days of this tense election, we take a look at a project fostering a different type of…
