Attacks on the “Black Smithsonian” by Trump are seen as an effort to whitewash racism in U.S. history
President Donald Trump’s order accusing the Smithsonian Institution of not reflecting American history notes correctly that the country’s Founding Fathers declared that “all men are created equal.” But it does not mention that the founders enshrined slavery into the U.S. Constitution and declared enslaved persons as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of the Census. Civil rights advocates, historians, and Black political leaders sharply rebuked Trump for his order, entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” They argued that his executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution is his administration’s latest move to downplay how race, racism, and...
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