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.

The ceremony comes as the Trump administration has pushed to eradicate diversity programs from the government, which some agencies have interpreted to end the observance of identity-based months.