President Donald Trump once praised the National Museum of African American History and Culture as a “beautiful tribute.” Now it is at the heart of his Smithsonian target.
Trump criticizes the Smithsonian over historic exhibit
President Donald Trump continued to target the Smithsonian Museum as he said, “How bad is slavery?” He began reviewing the museum last week.
- The National Museum of African American History and Culture has been the target of the Trump administration.
- The museum’s director has resigned since the White House began researching its exhibitions and programming.
- President Trump has criticized the Smithsonian for being too focused on slavery and not enough for success.
- Visitors told USA Today that the museum offers an account of the truth of history, including both atrocities and prosperity.
Washington – The Museum of African-American History and Culture – once President Donald Trump called him “deeply proud” – has moved to the target of the Smithsonian facility in the White House.
The museum was one of a group of Smithsonian facilities named after Trump’s executive order. “Restore the truth and sanity in American history.” It was also one of several museums considering exhibiting and programming as part of a White House review ahead of next year’s 250th anniversary.
Since pressure from the Trump administration, the director of the African American History Museum has resigned, with the basis for the location of several large gatherings, with hundreds of demonstrators demanding that administrators leave the museum.
In August, Trump said on social media that the Smithsonian was too focused on “how bad slavery is” and wasn’t enough for “success.” As an example, the White House cited a controversial graphic released online in 2020 by the Museum of African American History.
The graphics, part of the museum’s “talking about race” portal, described what was called “aspects and assumptions about white culture.” Following a fierce backlash from conservatives, the graphics were removed and the museum has announced an apology.
The recent feature of the White House museum is in stark contrast to Trump’s comments after touring the facility in 2017 and praised it as a “beautiful tribute to so many American heroes.”
“This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we must fight prejudice, intolerance and hatred in all very ugly ways,” he said at the time.
USA Today, along with four others, visited the museum, assessed the administration’s concerns and gained the visitors’ perspective.
What should you know about this:
When did the museum open?
The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened on September 24, 2016 in many fanfares.
The opening ceremony was filled with glamour and circumstances, with reflexive speeches and a slate of presidents, actors and celebrities in attendance.
President Barack Obama closed the event and spoke to a massive crowd gathered outside the three-tiered building, saying the museum reaffirmed that “African-American history is at the heart of American stories.”
The museum has been built for a long time
Congress and President George W. Bush approved the museum’s dent in 2003 after decades of demand and lobbying that he wanted to see a museum in the country’s capital dedicated to African-American experience and history.
Unusually, the museum had to build its collection from scratch. To that end, a team of Smithsonians traveled around the country, hosting events where thousands of ordinary people brought in bone and heirlooms and donated. Many of the items highlighted in museum galleries, including Harriet Tubman’s shawl and Nat Turner’s Bible, were obtained in this way.
Built on five acres of land for a short walk from the Washington Monument, the property is one of the latest Smithsonian Museums. It is a vast 10-storey building that holds approximately 105,000 square feet of exhibition space. In 2024, it hosted 1.6 million visitors.
What is inside the Museum of African American History?
The museum’s permanent gallery tracks the history of the Americas over the sixth century, from the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the early 1500s to elections from President Barack Obama and subsequent elections.
At the bottom of the hierarchical gallery begins, visitors navigate the vaguely lit corridors and see renderings of Africans packed into slave ships and descriptions of the horrifying situations they faced in colonial North America.
The museum points out how African slaves worked with European indentured servants before the laws of the mid-1700s. These new laws, a museum video, say they “created whiteness,” separate the indentured Europeans from enslaved Africans.
At the beginning of the Declaration of Independence section is a statue of Thomas Jefferson, sandwiched between stacks of bricks, decorated with the names of slaves each possessed.
“The tension between slavery and freedom resonates throughout the country’s history of who belongs and who is excluded, and constantly wrestling with the construction of a “perfect union” for the American people,” a text reads on a nearby wall. “This paradox is still embedded in national institutions that are essential today.”
As visitors climb decades of history, they can enter railroad cars of the separation era, sit at lunch counter protests and read about civil rights figures such as Rosa Parks, Pastor Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
At the end of the historic gallery, where light begins to flow into the building, visitors move on the ground and pass a quote from poet and civil rights activist Langston Hughes.
It reads as “I’m American too.”
The top floor of the museum is dedicated to African-American culture, and Black Americans have played a pivotal role in everything from music and literature to technological advancements and the military.
In the sunlight, these galleries feature sparkling memorabilia. Muhammad Al’s headgear, Jackie Robinson’s jersey, one of Dyna Washington’s dresses, Chuckberry’s Cherry Red Cadillac Eldorado – the difference in tone from the ground display.
Visitors describe the museum as “truth” and “all-inclusive”
More than dozens of people visiting the museum told USA Today that they were offering a clear story of history that doesn’t sugar the atrocities of slavery and separation, but doesn’t provide many examples of success, hope and prosperity.
“I think it’s very honest and true,” said Chris Bradshaw, 40, who visited the museum for the first time with his mother.
He had trouble with Trump as the Smithsonian focused too much on slavery. “It’s literally the foundation of this country, the foundation of this museum,” Bradshaw said. “Prosperity is there, it’s just on the top.”
Eugene Lucas, 61, spent several hours at the museum during his family trip and attended the prestigious ceremony of his cousin, a member of the rap trio Jungle Brothers, hosted by the National Hip Hop Museum.
“It was comprehensive,” he said of the gallery. This includes a section of the Harlem Hellfighters, a regiment of black military infantry served by his great grandfather.
“Changing this now would go back in time.”
