Trump called Black Americans an "indispensable core of America" at the White House event and decried focusing on 1619, the year the first recorded enslaved Africans arrived on American soil, saying that focus should instead be placed on 1776, the year the U.S. declared its independence.

President Donald Trump honored Black Americans’ vast contributions to the nation during a White House celebration Thursday that coincides with his first full month back in office. Trump spent that month abolishing decades of diversity efforts throughout the federal government and beyond,