Trump says the Smithsonian is too woke. We visited five of its museums to find out
WASHINGTON − He's renamed a body of water and a mountain. He put himself at the top of the Kennedy Center. Now,President Donald Trumpwants to put his stamp on the Smithsonian Institution andmake its museums less "woke." "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," Trump said in a recent social media post. The Smithsonian oversees 21 museums and libraries, the National Zoo as well as research and education centers around the country. In March,Trump signed an executive orderfocused on how history is presented. Then in August, the administrationannounced a review of the Smithsonian, starting with eight of its most-visited and high-profile museums andreleased a list of exhibitsit took issue with. Many focus on race, sexuality and immigration. One was an animated portrait of Anthony Fauci, the former National Institutes of Health official who became a frequent target of Trump. A number of the targeted exhibits are no longer or never were put on display or were only posted online. The goal of the review, a letter to the Smithsonian said, was to "celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions." In a statement to USA TODAY, the White House reiterated it was "committed to rooting out Woke and divisive ideology in our government and institutions." "Our Smithsonian should exhibit history in an accurate, honest, and factual way," White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said. The review is expected to be finished in early 2026, and the institution has said it plans to "continue to collaborate constructively with the White House." The administration has not yet ordered the removal of any items. The Smithsonian did not return a request for comment from USA TODAY. Whatever the changes, they could ripple far beyond the Smithsonian. Stephanie Brown, a historian and museologist who left her post as assistant director of museum studies at Johns Hopkins University earlier this year, described the Smithsonian Institution as the "flagship" other museums across the country follow. "Part of a museum's job, especially the Smithsonian's job, is reflecting the nation, reflecting who we are as a people," Brown said. "And who we are as a people is a pretty messy thing." Amid the review, USA TODAY in late August visited five Smithsonian locations in Washington, DC, that are among the first targeted by the Trump administration to document and describe many of the exhibits. We interviewed nearly 50 museumgoers on the sidewalks of the National Mall while members of the National Guard and federal agents patrolled nearby, another one of Trump's recent directives. Many said they were confused and troubled by the accusations that the museums are too woke. Broadly, they said they believed the Smithsonian museums present a balanced view of American history. The National Museum of African American History and Culture – which Trump oncesaid made him "deeply proud"– has become a flashpoint in his administration's targeting of the Smithsonian Institution. Since the president issued an executive order accusing the museum and others of coming under "the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology," itsdirector stepped downand its grounds have beenthe site of several large rallies. In August, Trump said on social media that the Smithsonianfocuses too much on "how bad slavery was"and not enough on "success." As an example, the White House cited a controversial graphic released online by the facility in 2020. The graphic, which was part of the museum's "Talking About Race" portal, described what it called "aspects and assumptions about white culture." Following intense backlash from conservatives, the graphic was removed, and the museum issued an apology. The White House's characterizations of the museum stand in stark contrast from when Trump toured it in 2017 and hailed it as "a beautiful tribute to so many American heroes." "This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms," he said at the time. The museum's permanent galleries trace through six centuries of history in the Americas, from the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the early 1500s to the election of President Barack Obama and beyond. On the bottom floor, where the historical galleries begin, the mood is somber as visitors navigate dimly lit corridors, viewing renderings of Africans packed into slave ships and descriptions of the horrid conditions they faced in colonial North America. The museum notes how African slaves worked alongside indentured servants from Europe before laws in the mid-1700s cemented a system of slavery based on African descent. These new laws, a video in the museum says, "created whiteness" and separated indentured Europeans from enslaved Africans. At the beginning of a section on the Declaration of Independence stands a statue of Thomas Jefferson flanked by stacks of bricks, each emblazoned with the names of the slaves he owned. "The tension between slavery and freedom – who belongs and who is excluded – resonates through the nation's history and spurs the American people to wrestle constantly with building a 'perfect union,'" text on a nearby wall reads. "This paradox was embedded in national institutions that are still vital today." As visitors ascend through decades of history, they can enter a segregation-era railway car, sit at a lunch counter protest and read about Civil Rights figures such as Rosa Parks, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. One room contains the casket of 14-year-old Emmett Till, the boy who was kidnapped and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after he was accused of whistling at a White woman. At the end of the historic galleries, where light begins pouring into the building, visitors move above ground and pass by a quote from poet and Civil Rights activist Langston Hughes. "I, too, am American," it reads. The top floors of the museum are dedicated to African American culture and the pivotal role Black Americans have played in everything from music and literature to technological advancements and the military. Beaming with sunlight, these galleries feature shimmering pieces of memorabilia: Muhammad Ali's headgear, Jackie Robinson's jersey, one of Dinah Washington's dresses and Chuck Berry's cherry red Cadillac Eldorado – a stark difference in tone from the exhibits below ground. Over a dozen people who visited the museum told USA TODAY it presents a clear-eyed telling of history that doesn't sugar-coat the atrocities of slavery and segregation, but also provides plenty of examples of success, hope and prosperity. "I think it's very honest and truthful," said Chris Bradshaw, 40, who visited the museum for the first time with his mother. He took issue with Trump saying the Smithsonian focused too much on slavery. "It is literally the foundation of this country, and it's the foundation of this museum," Bradshaw said. "The prosperity is there – it's just at the top." Eugene Lucas, 61, spent a few hours in the museum while on a family trip to attend an honoring ceremony for his cousin – a member of the rap trio Jungle Brothers – hosted by the National Hip-Hop Museum. "It was all-encompassing," he said of the galleries, including a section on the Harlem Hellfighters, a regiment of Black Army infantrymen in which his great-grandfather served. "Changing any of this now would just be going back in time." The National Museum of American History is among Trump's biggest Smithsonian targets. TheWhite House's list of objectionsincludes numerous complaints about the museum, including a sculpture based on the Statue of Liberty that depicts her holding tomatoes instead of a torch and tablet, and a Title IX exhibit that references ongoing civil rights battles as "transgender, nonbinary and cisgender female athletes demand equality." Some of the items on the list, however, aren't part of the museum's current collections. Its "Upending 1620" exhibit, which the White House said portrays pilgrims as colonizers, wasclosed in September 2022. The National Museum of the American Latinohasn't yet been built, and a Latino history exhibit with several items Trump objected toclosed in July. The White House also said a section about demonstrations in the museum's "American Democracy" exhibit "includes only leftist causes." While the majority of signs at the display may be considered progressive by some conservatives, the display also featured signs saying "Stop Abortion Now" and "Secure Our Borders Now." A looped History Channel segment on a TV situated among the signs also showed Second Amendment and tea party marches, as well as those supporting issues such as gun control and marriage equality. As the museum's offerings show, politics reach all corners of American life. The "Entertainment Nation" exhibit, for example, features a "Los Suns" jersey thatthe Phoenix Suns wore to protesta controversial Arizona immigration law in 2010. The "Food: Transforming the American Table" exhibit notes that supermarkets "became symbols of the superior living standards made possible by the American capitalist system" during the Cold War. Sammy Houdaigui, 22, said it's hard to leave the museum and "not feel pretty patriotic." He finds the museum to have a "pretty generous portrayal" of the country. "It's kooky to me when I hear people say like, 'oh, this museum is woke,'" he said. "It's most certainly not." Trump's effort to influence how the Smithsonian portrays American history is a far cry from how other countries handle their histories, said 78-year-old Lorraine Miles. She was born in Germany, where she said Holocaust history is "crammed down their throats" to prevent the horrors of history from repeating. She was joined by 72-year-old Robin Bowles and said both are "concerned" by the prospect of Trump reshaping the museumin light of his belief that"everything discussed is how horrible our country is." "That's the funny thing," Bowles said. "I don't see it as being negative. I see it as being honest." But David Layman, who said he's around 70 years old and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, said the museum "could go more positive." That said, he didn't take issue with how Trump's impeachments were presented in "The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden" despite his feeling that they were politically motivated and "absolute nonsense." "I think there are a lot of legitimate complaints that he has," Layman said. "I don't know that that's one of them." Kurt Kennedy, 74, said the museum provides a "different perspective" than the ones he was exposed to as a child. His childhood history lessons were "very biased toward the White perspective" and "glossed over" certain topics. At the same time, he thinks it's "fair to reevaluate ... how things are presented." "Problem is, the pendulum swings too far in each direction," he said. As visitors walk into the rotunda of the Museum of Natural History, right off the National Mall, they're greeted by an 11-ton taxidermized African Bush elephant, affectionately nicknamed Henry. From there, two floors of exhibits take visitors through the earth's 4.5-billion-year history, explaining how the planet and the creatures living here have transformed over time. The museum is among the first eight of Smithsonian sites the Trump administration is reviewing, but one of the few the White House has not yet publicly criticized. Much of the 1.5-million-square-foot facility is comprised of colorful displays that describe scientific discoveries and elements of nature. Cases under blue-tinted lights in the "Ocean Hall" contain thousands of figures of translucent, alien-like sea creatures. One asks visitors to walk along the remains of a 36-foot-long, perfectly preserved giant squid found in 2005. Other exhibits tell more complex stories of how humans have interacted with the natural world throughout history. The "Human Origins" gallery gives a crash course in evolution, walking visitors through how scientists believe the human body has changed over 6 million years. One display case uses recreated fossils to show museumgoers how the human pelvis slowly began to change nearly 2 million years ago as the species began to walk upright, rather than on all fours. Signs throughout the museum ask visitors to consider how the climate has changed the course of human evolution, and how humans have affected the environment around them. Nowhere is this more evident than in the "Hall of Fossils – Deep Time," whichreopened in 2019after a yearslong, $110 million renovation. A graphic near the start of the exhibit tells visitors "Humans have rapidly increased CO2 and global temperature by burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests." It compares changes in the climate caused by the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to a rise in carbon dioxide that caused a mass ocean extinction event 56 million years ago. "The evidence is clear: We are causing rapid, unprecedented change to our planet," a sign later in the exhibit reads. Trump in the past has called climate change a "hoax," despite anoverwhelming amount of evidenceshowing Earth's climate is changing and that thechange is being driven by human behavior. Most museum visitors USA TODAY spoke with said they felt the Natural History Museum presented a balanced understanding of scientific discovery. "It's history and this is natural history. There aren't really a lot of ways you could spin it," said 24-year-old Ryan Puleo, a Washington, D.C. resident who toured the museum with a friend who was visiting from South Carolina. Others walking out, like 60-year-old Rob Calhoun, said they believed the museum focused too heavily on evolution. "Everything just seemed to jump to evolution, period," said Calhoun, who described himself as a Christian. He said he wished the museum gave "more detail" on how the fossils displayed were found and how researchers came to the conclusions presented in the museum. The National Museum of the American Indian is one of the Smithsonian's recent projects on the National Mall. It was previously a private museum in New York City before President George H.W. Bush signed legislation in 1989 that transferred the collection to the federal government. It would be more than a decade later in 2004 when the museum first opened its doors in Washington. The Smithsonian still runs the museum in New York. The museum is one that the administration had marked for review, but it hadn't called out a specific exhibit. Guests walk by a babbling water feature on their way to the entrance of the circular building. Museumgoers are greeted by several recreations of wooden boats used by Native Americans. They can peer up at the spiraled ceiling that lets light pour into the building. On the ground floor, tribal flags from sovereign Indian nations, both domestic and international, hang. It's the top floors that are home to what some might consider a challenging history. One of the most prominent exhibits is "Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations." It examines several treaties between the growing United States and Native American tribes, which the museum described as "often broken, sometimes coerced." It explains the different ways Native Americans and settlers perceived ownership of land and how each party made formal agreements. It also explains what the tribes expected to get from working with the United States and how those promises were often broken. Many of the examples are stark, like the Potawatomi Nation which had negotiated with the federal government in hopes of staying in their homelands in the upper Midwest. An initial deal did grant the tribe that, but the federal government pressured the tribe to sign several new agreements, according to the exhibit, the last of which forced them to move west. The tribe of about 860 was eventually forced to march more than 600 miles to Kansas. More than 40 people died. Another notable exhibit, "Americans," examines how Native Americans are seen and portrayed in popular culture. The main hall in the exhibit features hundreds of images of Native Americans used in popular culture or advertising. They're sometimes mascots for cigarettes, sports teams or motor vehicles. They're used to advertise the American Southwest, hotels and corn starch. The "Americans" exhibit also offers context on notable events in Native American and U.S. history like the Trail of Tears or The Battle of Little Bighorn. A similar examination focuses on the legacy of Pocahontas and John Smith. "In 1607, she was eleven years old, and she was not in the middle of a love affair with John Smith," the exhibit at one point states. No one interviewed by USA TODAY outside the museum felt that it needed to change to address "wokeness." Some did wonder if the treaties exhibit might capture the administration's attention, but museumgoers generally felt it presented a balanced view of history as was the case for Margo Nadeau and Jo LaNasa. The friends were both wearing some form of American flag on their outfits and were visiting from Syracuse, New York. They're on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Nadeau likes Trump. LaNasa does not. But they both feared political interference in the museum. "I think history needs to say all of the hard stuff," Nadeau said. LaNasa echoed her friend's concern while adding an ignorance of history will lead to its repetition. Lior Dahan, from Boston, visited the museum with friend Jack Myers. The two, both wearing matching rainbow sunglasses, said they both knew a museum about Native Americans in the United States would cover heavy topics. Still, it didn't feel like it pushed a message, Dahan said. "You draw your own conclusions," he said, "whatever they might be." The administration also had complaints about the National Portrait Gallery, whosedirector stepped down in Juneamid its criticism, though none of the listed pieces are currently on display. The White House's list condemneda performance art seriesthattook place in 2015 and 2016, anoil painting showing refugees crossing the U.S. borderinto Texas thathasn't been displayed since 2023, ananimation of Dr. Anthony Faucinot currently on displayand a since-scrapped exhibit that was set to open in September and include a "painting depicting a transgender Statue of Liberty." The White House objected to the National Museum of American History's portrayal of Benjamin Franklin, which it said "focuses almost solely on slavery," though the National Portrait Gallery's Franklin painting has no such references. It describes his "lifetime of achievement" and says he "remains highly visible today." The portrait museum has a dizzying array of galleries depicting everything fromOld Hollywoodto17th-century Indigenous Americans. Itsstated missionis to "tell the story of America by portraying the people who shape the nation's history, development and culture." Indeed, among the museum's collection are portraits of the most iconic figures in American history – theunfinished portrait of George Washingtonthat served as the foundation for the image now seen on the $1 bill andthe "cracked plate" portrait of Abraham Lincolnthat the museum describes as "one of the most important and evocative photographs in American history." "The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture," an exhibit that opened in November 2024 and isset to end in September, says visitors will "find different ways that artists use sculpture to tell fuller stories about how race and racism shape the ways we understand ourselves, our communities and the United States." One of its sculptures,Nari Ward's "Swing,"shows a car tire with embedded shoes hanging from a noose. Its description says the piece references the "brutal history of lynching in the United States" and that the shoes represent "the countless lives lost to racial violence, in the past and in our present day." The exhibit also says "American sculpture became a medium for expressing racist hierarchies" and that its pieces highlight sculpture's "deep connections to notions of white supremacy and idealized white female virtue." In the "America's Presidents" exhibit, the museum notes that neither Trump's nor former PresidentJoe Biden's commissioned portraits have been unveiled. Currently,a 2017 photograph by Matt McClainshows Trump, hands folded and wearing a red tie, looking directly at the visitor. At certain angles, the photo's dark backdrop allows viewers to see the reflection of former PresidentBarack Obama's portrait that depicts him surrounded by greeneryand flowers representing Chicago and Hawaii. Biden is represented by a 2023 photograph taken atthe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summitin San Francisco that shows him looking away from the camera as he stands behind a microphone. Museum visitors said they did not feel like the museum was politically biased. Ian Jayne, 29, said he appreciated the museum and didn't think any of the exhibits were "woke." He did say he could see how some conservatives might reach that conclusion. But Jayne, a former Georgetown student now visiting from Oklahoma, said he hoped the Smithsonian would fight to maintain control over its exhibits. "So much of American culture is about open expression," he said. Maya Ribault, 50, works near the National Portrait Gallery. She is a frequent guest and considers herself a bit of a superfan. She said the museums do a great job of representing the nuance and diversity of America "If I could see the curators," she said, "I'd give them a big hug." Contributing: Terry Collins BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment reporter at USA TODAY.USA TODAY's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.Funders do not provide editorial input. IMAGE SOURCES Reuters; Getty Images; Google Earth This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Trump says the Smithsonian is too woke. We visited to find out
Trump says the Smithsonian is too woke. We visited five of its museums to find out WASHINGTON − He's renamed a body of water and a mount...
