When History Is Censored, Who Gets Erased?
President Donald Trump. Jon Tyson via Unplash
A visit to the Smithsonian begins with visitors admiring rifles from the Revolutionary War, a model tank used against German forces in World War II and examining a space shuttle used in expeditions to outer space – all while ignoring the history of the many enslaved African Americans who labored under white masters for centuries.
This is the vision of President Donald Trump, who has remained fixated on eradicating what he calls “wokeness” from the United States. His latest effort targets the Smithsonian, accusing it of promoting “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology” in an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
The order does not just target Black history. Among those explicitly named are the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.
The Art Museum was criticized for hosting an exhibit titled: The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture which includes statements such as: “Societies including the United States have used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement,” “sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism” and “race is a human invention.” These statements are supported by historical evidence, though Trump has consistently rejected such narratives.
The portrayal of race in American history has long been a central focus of Trump’s rhetoric. This was exemplified by the creation of the 1776 Project in 2020, aimed at promoting what he called “patriotic education.” The commission was established in direct response to The New York Times’ 1619 Project, which argued that systemic racism continues to shape American society.
Another recurring theme in Trump’s platform is the exclusion of transgender athletes from men’s and women’s sports—an increasingly polarizing issue. The Women’s History Museum was criticized for “celebrating the exploits of male athletes participating in women’s sports.” Critics argue that Trump has weaponized a complex debate, drawing comparisons to authoritarian tactics.
Trump has tasked Vice President J.D. Vance with overseeing the initiative.
Raymond Arsenault, a professor of southern history at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, told The Guardian, “It’s so chilling. Everything I’ve worked on in my career is simply ruled out by this one executive order. It’s like the barbarian sack of Rome in the level of ignorance and ill-will and anti-intellectualism.”
Trump’s agenda is clear: to whitewash American history by stripping away any narratives that confront the wrongdoings of white Americans. He hides this effort behind sanitized language like “honoring the richness of American history and innovation,” and “instilling pride in the hearts of all Americans”—phrases designed to erase the stories of those who suffered under systems of oppression.