The Trump administration is planning a purge of Black history artifacts housed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and is returning them to their rightful owners.
A Black history artifact reportedly considered for removal includes the original Greensboro Woolworth’s lunch counter, where, on February 1, 1960, four Black students from North Carolina A&T University refused to leave after being denied service. This action inspired a wave of sit-ins throughout the South, marking a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement.
It is important to note that President Donald Trump does not possess explicit legal authority to directly remove artifacts from the NMAAHC, which opened in September 2016, as it is a Smithsonian Institution and is not under his direct control.
Yet, in an executive order issued on March 27, the president said: “Over the last decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted effort to rewrite our nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”
In an interview with USA Today after signing the order, the president pushed back on current institutions like NMAAHC, which hosted 1.6 million visitors in 2024.
“Museums in our nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn,” he said, “not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history.”
Vice President J.D. Vance, a Smithsonian Board of Regents member, is responsible for implementing this order.
Despite the current president’s concerns about NMAAHC, the purpose of the institution is for unity, not division.
“We should not be surprised that not all the healing is done,” former President Barack Obama said at the opening of the museum almost nine years ago. “Hopefully, this museum can help us talk to each other. And more importantly, to listen to each other.”
Each of us must work to prevent any unauthorized removal of artifacts from – or the attempted dismantling of — the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Community advocacy, public pressure, and media attention can help expose and block such attempts.
Additionally, museum leadership should collaborate with civil rights organizations to safeguard the integrity of these historical collections.
We cannot allow an administration that denies the value of diversity, equity, inclusion and Black history to erase years of progress, and programming, efforts and institutions like NMAAHC, which work to highlight and preserve important African American narratives.