(The Hill) — The White House on Thursday unveiled a list of 20 Smithsonian exhibits the Trump administration alleges are being used to frame historical events through “ideological” narratives instead of factual evidence.
Items categorized as unacceptable include an exhibit at the National Museum of the American Latino that portrays the U.S. as stolen land and characterizes U.S. history as rooted in “colonization.”
The administration also slammed the National Museum of American History for its depiction of Benjamin Franklin, a founding father, as a slave owner and took issue with the stance that his “scientific accomplishments were enabled by the social and economic system he worked within.”
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A separate notation critiques an art piece showcasing migrants watching July 4 fireworks “through an opening in the U.S.-Mexico border wall,” which reportedly states that America’s founders “feared non-white immigration.”
Other issues highlighted focus on support for transgender communities.
The Trump administration specifically targeted the American History Museum’s “LGBTQ+ History” exhibit and condemned a separate display lauding the 50th anniversary of Title IX with a focus on transgender athletes. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February barring transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
The decision to highlight more than a dozen exhibits and artworks as “woke” comes after Trump criticized the history museum for its depiction of slavery and its impact on Black Americans.
“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” the president wrote Tuesday Truth Social post.
“We are not going to allow this to happen, and I have instructed my attorneys 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.”
His comments come just eight years after he lauded the opening of the National Museum of African American History during his first term for its portrayal of harsh truths and storied victories for disenfranchised Black citizens.
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Trump’s issue with the depiction of slavery in museums has been widely challenged by Black historians and community leaders.
“Just as the Holocaust is remembered in all its brutality, so must America reckon with the truth of chattel slavery, Jim Crow and racial terror,” Dr. Toni Draper, publisher of the Afro-American Newspaper, whose archives were used to help curate the museum, wrote in a recent op-ed for Afro.com.’ Anything less is historical erasure, a rewriting of facts to make the nation appear more palatable.”
“But history is not meant to comfort — it is meant to confront. And only in confrontation do we find the lessons that lead us forward,” she added.
Many items featured on the White House list coincide with an article published by The Federalist last week that called out the Smithsonian for “anti-American propaganda.”
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Several years ago, the conservative Heritage Foundation also flanked the Smithsonian Latino exhibit for being a “disgrace” to American history.
In lieu of concerns, the Trump administration has vowed to work alongside the Smithsonian to review eight of its museums to bring exhibits into “alignment” with the president’s historical vision.
The institutions being reviewed include the National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of African American History and Culture, National Museum of the American Indian, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
