Historians Reject White House's Criticism of Smithsonian Museum
Source: NYT
The Organization of American Historians, the nation’s largest group of scholars of U.S. history, blasted the report in a statement on Monday, accusing the administration of presenting a partisan ideological attack in the guise of historical critique.
“The National Museum of American History interprets America’s history through its vast collection,” it said. “This report’s objective is to punish it for doing that in a way that makes U.S. history accessible to and reflective of all Americans. The report is only the latest chapter in a broader, systematic campaign that now targets an institution that was never meant to answer to any single administration.”
The group accused the administration of ignoring decades of scholarship and trying to “erase the conflict, struggle and diversity — the complexity — that have always defined the American experience.”
“Make no mistake: The report represents an attempt to turn back the clock to a time when U.S. history was taught as the history of white Christian men who conquered a continent, U.S. military leaders who rarely lost a battle and U.S. presidents who were single-handedly responsible for national greatness, all under the cover of ‘anti-D.E.I.’ and ‘anti-woke’ crusading,” it said.
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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/arts/smithsonian-trump-activism-american-history.html
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