Smithsonian faces censorship as Trump targets race, slavery exhibits

Donald Trump’s administration has intensified its takeover of the Smithsonian Institution, advancing an agenda that historians and Civil Rights leaders say is rooted in racism and political censorship. Under the guise of “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” Trump’s March executive order placed Vice President J.D. Vance in charge of purging Smithsonian exhibitions of what the White House calls “divisive” narratives, targeting especially those that address race, slavery and systemic injustice. The latest moves include the removal of references to Trump’s two impeachments from the National Museum of American History’s “Limits of Presidential Power” exhibit.      Smithsonian officials claimed the change was part of a “restoration” to the exhibit’s 2008 version, but ABC News reported on August 1 that it followed White House pressure during a broader content review. Trump is the only U.S. president impeached twice—once in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and again in 2021 for incitement of insurrection—but both proceedings were temporarily erased from the museum’s public record.

The administration’s focus has been even more aggressive toward the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In April, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones told Black Press USA that Trump’s targeting of the museum’s slavery section “is a sign of a deep sickness” and that “to erase or minimize the slavery and freedom part of that story is to create a fantasy of how we got here.”  She warned, “We literally would not be in the United States without slavery.” Civil Rights icon Dr. Amos C. Brown, speaking on April 29, on the Black Press USA’s Let It Be Known show, revealed that the museum had abruptly returned historic artifacts he had loaned—a Bible from the Civil Eights Era and one of the earliest histories of Black people in America—without discussion. “This is a direct result of Project 2025,” Brown said. “There is a move in this country to induce cultural and historical Alzheimer’s.”

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, who has led the institution since 2019, has publicly pledged to “remain committed to telling the multi-faceted stories of this country’s extraordinary heritage” despite the White House directive. But Trump’s order grants Vance authority over content, funding, and even appointments to the Board of Regents—an unprecedented level of federal interference in the 178-year-old institution’s governance. The scope of the takeover, outlined in an August 12 White House letter to Bunch, demands access to internal curatorial documents, exhibition plans, and educational materials from eight major museums. The administration insists on “content corrections” to replace narratives it deems “ideologically driven” with those celebrating “American exceptionalism.” Critics say the moves echo authoritarian tactics. “We cannot be a free democratic society when you have the most powerful people in the world who will take control of a history museum and force them to tell a lie,” Hannah-Jones said in April.