Trump Wants Museums to Downplay Slavery: Erasing Black Pain to Rewrite America’s Past

Donald Trump has a new target in his war on truth: the Smithsonian.

On Tuesday, Trump announced that he has ordered his attorneys to begin a review of Smithsonian museums, attacking them for focusing “too much” on slavery and the painful realities of America’s past. In his words, the museums make the United States look “horrible” by showing “how bad Slavery was.”

According to a White House official, Trump doesn’t plan to stop at the Smithsonian. He intends to extend this campaign to other museums, threatening to strip away honest historical narratives in favor of what he calls a less “woke” version of history.

“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

For Trump, acknowledging centuries of brutality, oppression, and resistance in America isn’t patriotism — it’s a threat to his vision of a sanitized, government-approved history.

A Direct Attack on Black History

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture was specifically mentioned in reports, with artifacts like Harriet Tubman’s hymn-filled book already removed earlier this year. Trump’s plan includes enforcing “content corrections” across museums — replacing so-called “divisive” language with narratives that fit his administration’s agenda.

This comes just as the U.S. prepares for its 250th anniversary. Rather than reflect honestly on the past, Trump’s goal is to whitewash it — ensuring that future generations see slavery, segregation, and systemic racism as side notes instead of central truths of America’s story.

The Bigger Pattern

This assault on the Smithsonian mirrors Trump’s attacks on universities such as Harvard, Columbia, and Brown. His administration has already pulled millions in federal funding, forced schools to scale back diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and even demanded cash “settlements” from institutions.

Now, Trump is applying the same playbook to museums: weaponize funding, control the narrative, erase uncomfortable truths.

Why This Matters

History is not supposed to make people comfortable. It’s supposed to make people think. When Trump demands museums focus less on slavery, what he’s really saying is: Erase the horrors, silence the voices, and rewrite the story.

If we allow this to happen, Black pain and resilience will be pushed into the shadows — while future generations grow up learning a history stripped of truth, justice, and context.

The Smithsonian is the largest museum complex in the world, funded largely by taxpayers but traditionally independent in curating exhibits. If political pressure succeeds in controlling it, no historical institution will be safe.

Final Word

Trump’s attack on the Smithsonian isn’t just politics — it’s cultural warfare. It’s an attempt to tell our children that slavery wasn’t “that bad,” that the horrors of systemic racism don’t deserve the spotlight, and that America’s future depends on forgetting its past.

At Urban Intellectuals, we know that forgetting is not an option. If we don’t defend the truth of our history, someone else will rewrite it for us.