On Thursday, March 27, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at museums and national parks to “remove improper ideology" and restore history and American values. Of those, specifically the Smithsonian Institution and its museums, including the National Zoo, were singled out. The commander-in-chief tasked Vice President JD Vance, who serves on the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, to make sure the order is followed.
“Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” Trump penned in the order. “This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”
Smithsonian Institute’s History of Controversial Exhibits
Trump wrote that, over the past decade, “Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” He added: “This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.”
The president provided examples such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum features “The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture,” which is an exhibit representing that “[s]ocieties including the United States have used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.” It further claims that “sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism” and states that “Race is a human invention.”
The National Museum of African American History and Culture, according to the order, has proclaimed that “hard work,” “individualism,” and “the nuclear family” are aspects of “White culture.” And the upcoming Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum plans to celebrate male athletes participating in women’s sports.
A quick look at the museum’s website shows some current and planned exhibitions that might be considered controversial.
“In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World”: (Dec. 13, 2024 – June 8, 2025) Features “freedom-making practices of Black communities” and “invites visitors into a global conversation on the continued impacts of slavery and colonialism.”
“This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance”: (July 12, 2024 – April 20, 2025) The exhibit focuses on Baldwin and how his “sexuality, faith, artistic curiosities, and notions of masculinity…helped define his writing and long-lasting legacy.”
“Rallying against Racism”: (October 1, 2022 – Ongoing) An exhibit from the COVID days and the violence against Asian Americans “due to racial scapegoating.”
“We Belong Here: Marking the 50th Anniversary of Title X”: (June 23, 2022 – Indefinitely) This focuses on three athletes – two women and Leo Baker, a non-binary trans person.
“Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.” (September 10, 2021 – Ongoing) An exhibit that “explores the Black Lives Matter movement, violence against African Americans, and how art depicts Black resistance, resilience, and protest.”
Depicting racism is nothing new for the Smithsonian. Back in 2020, Liberty Nation News Executive Editor Leesa K. Donner wrote about the institution’s “Take the Whiteness Test,” which garnered so much controversy the museum finally removed it.
In 2021, LNN Political Columnist Joe Schaeffer discussed the museum’s foray into promoting a one-world government, and in February this year, he brought to our attention how the Smithsonian was informing us on the Bias in the US.
Critics argue that refusing such information as racism, transgender athletes, and so on, to be displayed is hiding or trying to erase history from future generations. Yet, many of these types of exhibits promote racial divide among Americans.
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