Elaborating on a review of several of the Smithsonian’s 21 museums and galleries that the White House ordered last week, President Trump said he has instructed his lawyers “to go through the Museums” and “start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made.” He added, “This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE.”
The Organisation of American Historians (OAH) has expressed “deep concern and dismay” at the White House’s “unprecedented” request to review the Smithsonian’s exhibits, stating that “no president has the legitimate authority to impose such a review.” The Smithsonian, which receives the majority of its budget from Congress, maintains decision-making independence from the government. The OAH also said it was “particularly distressing to see this effort of historical censorship and sanitising tied to the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.”
The Trump administration said it ordered the museum review in advance of next year’s milestone, which will mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It was decades later, on December 18, 1865, that the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution officially abolished chattel slavery nationwide, though exceptions remained.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., which opened in 2016 with a ceremony led by then-President Barack Obama, is one of the museums included in the White House review. According to the museum’s website, visitors can learn about the “richness and diversity of the African American experience” with exhibits ranging from a plantation cabin from South Carolina to Chuck Berry’s red Cadillac convertible.
The free expression organization PEN America has also expressed alarm at the Trump administration’s “sweeping review” of Smithsonian exhibits. “The administration’s efforts to rewrite history are a betrayal of our democratic traditions and a deeply concerning effort to strip truth from the institutions that tell our national story,” said Hadar Harris, the managing director of PEN America’s Washington, D.C., office, in a statement.
Trump has previously threatened to cut federal funding for leading US educational institutions, citing pro-Palestinian protests against US ally Israel’s war on Gaza, as well as transgender policies, climate initiatives, and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Last month, the government settled its probes into Columbia University and Brown University. Columbia agreed to pay $221 million and Brown said it would pay $50 million. Both institutions also accepted certain government demands regarding how some topics are taught. Harvard University has sued the Trump administration to stop the freezing of $2.3 billion of its federal funding.
