In a culmination of the Freedom to Learn 2025 National Week of Action (April 27 – May 3), hundreds of protesters marched to the beat of African drums and chants of resistance in a rallying cry for justice and fair education on May 3.
Following the Trump administration’s push back on African American history and institutions, the “#HandsOffOurHistory” demonstration scoured the three blocks from the John A. Wilson building to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to affirm the value, strength and contributions of Black culture in the nation’s history.
Organized by the Freedom to Learn Network, in collaboration with the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and the Association for the Study of American Life and History (ASALH), the week-long series united several civil rights groups in a promise to uphold the stories and voices of African Americans.
Other (civil rights) organizations heeding the call included: the National Urban League, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP), National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), the National Action Network, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Legal Defense Fund, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
“Our monuments, our historical sites, are dedicated to sharing the history of Black people in these United States of America. These museums hold the stories of our ancestors, of our collective journey,” said Melanie Campbell, NCBCP president and CEO. “We’re going to stand today and for as long as it takes to fight for our freedom to learn and to fight for our freedom to not just survive these attacks on our very existence, but to thrive.”
The #HandsOffOurHistory/Freedom To Learn National Week of Action, which included faith-based activations, a night of artivism, and virtual gatherings such as an April 30 roundtable marking President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, follows a series of executive orders that have sparked controversy among civil rights advocates. The orders include: the elimination of federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs; a ban on African American literature and curriculum studies; and, as of March 27, a plan to “restore the Smithsonian” institution, which Trump criticizes promotes “inherently harmful and oppressive” narratives of American and Western values.
Throughout the weeklong series, and atop the steps of 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue on Saturday, stood the united leaders and presidents of the NCNW (the Rev. Shavon Arline-Bradley), the National Urban League (Marc Morial), ASALH (Karsonya “Kaye” Wise Whitehead), as well as Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of The Transformative Justice Coalition, AAPF co-founder and executive director Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Campbell, convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable – among others.
During the march, the zest of African music led the coalition to the streets of the National Mall on Connective Avenue, where the NMAAHC sits, as attendees fueled demands and donned paraphernalia that read: “Take Black our History!” and “Hands Off Our Civil Rights!”
Meanwhile, additional voices like D.C.’s former First Lady Cora Masters Barry, Youth Mayor Tatum Primus, and representatives of multiple Black Greek letter organizations (BGLOs) joined the fight to underscore a commitment to the legacies that built this country as it stands today.
“Trump’s agenda may try to rewrite our truth, but we are the authors now,” Primus said. “We are the historians, the educators, the greeds of this generation. We will speak the names, we will tell the stories, and we will protect this history like our lives depend on it—because they do.”
Significance of NMAAHC, Preserving Black Legacies
Arnwine, who also serves as president emeritus for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law noted that without public museums, the truths of American history – and those that helped shape it – are susceptible to false narratives that minimize the role of Black ancestry.
After reminding the crowd that Black people built the U.S. Capitol Building “and the White House, twice,” Arnwine told The Informer that these cultural institutions stand to represent the connective stories of African Americans.
She notably highlighted Black economic wealth accumulation, captured through the evolution of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and how the histories of sundown towns – which once made up more than 2,5000 cities in the U.S. – explains “why Blacks don’t live in certain places right now.”
“Today is a reflection of what was created and built,” Arnwine told The Informer, “but if we want to understand how we get beyond today, how we get to a better America, then you only get there by understanding your history, embracing it and moving forward.”
Since its fruition in 2016, NMAAHC has blossomed as a staple of African American culture in D.C. and across the nation. Colloquially nicknamed the “Blacksonian,” the revered institution similarly embodies the resilient subjects inside it, as the landmark building overcame years of pushback before officially being built.
Sylvia Cyrus, executive director of ASALH, emphasized that preserving cultural institutions means upholding legacies often overlooked.
During Saturday’s rally, she gave a nod to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only Black, all-female WWII unit, who recently received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor for an extraordinary feat tackling a massive backlog of undelivered mail that helped boost morale for the war.
“Just 10 short years ago, people didn’t even know that these Black women were responsible for us winning World War II,” Cyrus said. “There’s so much history that we have to know–it’s out there, we gotta share it, but we’ve got to teach our own.”
Georgetown University junior Matthew Jones, 21, recognizes how learning the stories of ancestral giants can invoke a similar spirit of justice and activism in later generations.
As the Beta Chapter president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Jones took a personal responsibility to be present at the demonstration, noting the influence of former freedom fighters who were also part of the historically Black fraternity.
“Part of our history having Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Cornel West, Andrew Young, so many great leaders,” Jones said, “we just want to be a part of that as well.”
By learning where the past meets the present, he added, Black youth can gauge a deeper understanding of Black history and create longevity in the fight.
“I think the most important thing is just Black youth understanding how issues affect them. There’s only so much that our generation and the generation before us can do to solve these issues,” Jones told The Informer.
“And when that history gets erased,” he continued, “you can’t recover from that.”
Restructuring the Community, Rebuilding Institutions to ‘Take Black History’
Atop the hill in front of the Smithsonian museum, Ernest Quarles, a member of the AAPF board of directors, made it clear that part of the journey to liberation starts within the community.
The John Hopkins professor attributes the historical undermining of Black women leaders, societal gender norms, and an ignorant bliss among African Americans as some of the internal strifes that have only furthered racial injustice.
“We’ve got to acknowledge and create an image of where we want to be. [A] visual of [where] you would like to see us in five years in our community, and then you individually, just do what you need to do to get on board with that re-education and higher level of consciousness,” Quarles told The Informer.
Quarles emphasized there is room for charge, so long as individuals activate – whether that be through demonstrations such as the Hands Off rally, monetary donation, or simply speaking truth to power.
Similarly, Whitehead encouraged the crowd to enlighten others with the message of the movement, particularly challenging parents and grandparents to take pride in teaching children about their own ancestry.
Another notion prevalent among the speakers was that the Freedom to Learn demonstration was just the beginning of action to “take Black history.”
“I ask that we take this movement and continue to build it,” said Morial on May 3, “in every way, shape or form.”
Arnwine touted the forthcoming National Day of Action set to take place in D.C. on July 17, in honor of the fifth anniversary of former Georgia Rep. John Lewis’s passing.
Morial announced plans to open the Urban League Civil Rights Museum in 2026, pledging an institution where Black history will be told “authentically and completely without any interference, any censorship, any fear or trepidation in telling the truth.”
“This is a crossroads moment for our generation. Never in the last 60 years, 70 years have we seen such a vicious assault on the Civil Rights progress. Never have we seen an assault on the role of government to make lives better for people,” Morial added.
Meanwhile, Primus was firm in an unwavering plea to Black America, as she reminded that defending Black culture is not merely about liberation from oppression, but the resilience of survival.
“Our history is not a threat. It is Harriet Tubman’s courage, Malcolm X’s conviction, and Fannie Lou Hamer’s fire. It is the beat of the drum and the breaking of chains, and it is ours,” Primus said. “And it is worth defending with everything we have.”