The topic of censoring American history has always been a point of contention in schools across the nation. This is partially due to the struggle of balancing work content with the maturity of the students, and partially to push sanitized perspectives forward while hiding the darker parts of the country’s past behind closed doors. However, recently this argument has moved from classrooms to public spaces. The concept of intentionally getting rid of information –– photos and true recounts of the African Americans who suffered at the cost of the United States’ “greatness” — is not only morally wrong, but goes against the very ideals this country stands for: freedom, liberty and equality.
The battle to have African American history shown accurately to the public has been fought many times in the past decades. This continues to be challenged today in states across the board. In 2022, Florida passed the Individual Freedom Act, also known as the Stop WOKE Act, which banned critical race theory in school systems and employment training. That same year, Arkansas declared that students taking the AP African American Studies course would not receive college credit for it. From 2021 to 2023, 44 states were reported to have heard legislative proposals that would have restricted how Black history, racism, social movements and other similar topics could be taught; 18 of these states passed laws that adhered to these proposals. Unfortunately, suppressing America’s less-than-spotless historical background is nothing new. The recent actions from the government and its officials have been made plain for the world to see, with choices that have made headlines across news outlets and social media platforms alike.
The Smithsonian Institution is the largest museum, education and research complex in the world. In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to “restore truth and sanity” to American history. In this statement, the White House declares that the “revisionist movement” aims to undermine the achievements of the United States, paint the country as “irredeemably flawed” and foster a sense of “national shame.” One of the ways President Trump’s order was accomplished was by defunding certain exhibits in the Smithsonian that cast the founding principles of the U.S. in a “negative light.” This singled out the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the American Women’s History Museum and the American Art Museum as the main branches of the Smithsonian that are claimed to promote this “improper ideology.”
Moreover, in September, another move by the Trump Administration to eradicate “corrosive” thinking under this order included taking down a photograph entitled “Scourged Back,” as well as other signs and exhibits related to slavery from an unidentified national park. This photo from the 19th century depicts the scar-covered back of a formerly enslaved Louisiana Black man. It was widely circulated in America during the Civil War and reshaped the abolitionist cause by exposing the cruelty of slavery to the northern citizens who were, for the most part, oblivious. Now, this historic photograph and many others like it that bring the truth of the country’s past to the surface are once again being pushed under the rug.
Many flaws can be seen in the inherent bias this kind of censorship demonstrates, but one of the most glaring is the idea that public knowledge of history should be controlled based on whether or not it puts the foundations of its country in a “negative light.” Beyond the fact that this order specifically targets Black history, it is explicitly racist. Ignoring centuries’ worth of wrongdoings to highlight the so-called “good parts” will only put the nation into a regression. Humans learn through trial and error, which is a simple way of saying that it’s the knowledge gained from mistakes and the avoidance of repeating them that allows a species to improve. Still, this only works if the error is treated as information; something that cannot be done when that information is restricted and stripped of its importance.
In America, a nation that prides itself on its virtue of freedom, this kind of censorship is near baffling. No country is completely free of a dark, regretful past — that much is no surprise — but it’s the willingness to take responsibility for those actions that is the first step towards reparation. If this trend continues as is, it could easily descend into worse and worse consequences for both the U.S. and its citizens down the road. After all, if those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, it seems doubly true for those who purposefully ignore it, especially when they are in a place of power.
