Washington – A veteran activist of the civil rights movement said it was notified by the Smithsonian institution that the articles provided to the National Museum of African -American History and Culture can be returned, in the midst of a possible review of the museum’s collections ordered by President Donald Trump.
The Reverend Amos C. Brown, shepherd of the third Baptist Church in San Francisco, lent two books to Smithsonian, which were exhibited since the museum opened almost a decade ago. One of his articles is an edition of “The history of the black race in the United States” by George Washington Williams, which was written in 1880 and is among the first books to document the history and racism of the United States in the United States, the other is a Bible that Brown took during the protests with Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Jr.
The reasons given for the return of the articles initially gave alarms that the Trump administration had begun to make visible changes in a museum considered as a crown jewel of the American black culture.
Recent reports that the museum has already eliminated exhibitions that document the struggle for civil rights are false, said Smithsonian. The White House had no comments for this story.
However, the threat of changes in the African -American Museum has caused strong responses from democratic legislators, historians, civil rights leaders and education defenders, many of which they planned to demonstrate in support of the museum in the capital of the nation on Saturday.
Brown, who considers former Vice President Kamala Harris among his parishioners, received an email last month from a Smithsonian official who told him that his articles would be returned about his concerns about his preservation due to the lighting of the museum. Brown told Associated Press that he found the statement “a weak excuse for a museum.”
After the initial email to Brown, a different Smithsonian official communicated with him to express regret that the initial reason has caused a “misunderstanding,” Brown said. On the other hand, according to Brown, the official said that Archives Smithsonian will differ to “a panel that will reconsider whether my artifacts should be there or not.” He said they told him that this would be done for a wide range of historical artifacts.
Smithsonian officials did not answer questions about whether this panel has formed.
After that interaction, Brown said that a third Smithsonian official then approached him and scheduled a videoconference meeting for Friday afternoon. He said they did not give him the names of who would join the call, but they told him that he would include the Smithsonian senior leadership.
The Smithsonian “Routine Returnce provided artifacts according to applicable loan agreements and rotates objects on display in accordance with the high standards of attention and preservation of the Smithsonian and as part of our regular billing of the museum”, according to a statement that the institution sent to the AP.
“The recent statements that objects have been eliminated for reasons other than adhesion to standard loan agreements or museum practices are false,” says the statement.
Trump’s executive order language atar the alarm
Concerns about possible reforms at the Smithsonian have emerged since Trump signed an executive order on March 27 entitled “Restoring the truth and sanity to the history of the United States.” The order argued that Smithsonian had “remained under the influence of a divisive and race ideology” and said that the institution has “promoted narrations that portray US and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”
The Order appointed Vice President JD Vance and Lindsey Halligan, a White House assistant, “eliminating the inadequate ideology” of Smithsonian’s properties, which include 21 museums and the National Zoo. The Smithsonian encompasses educational, research and archival centers aimed at increasing and disseminating knowledge. He manages more than 150 million artifacts.
The order cites several national parks and Smithsonian museums as showing potentially objectable content, including the African -American museum.
The Smithsonian is governed by a Board of Regents chaired by the president of the Supreme Court John Roberts and includes Vance, members of the Congress of the Parties and the main business and philanthropist executives. The next meeting of the Board is scheduled for June 9.
Legislators, academics and activists fear that the order can influence the Smithsonian to eliminate artifacts, exhibitions or investigations that do not conform to the understanding of the history of the Trump administration.
The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, sent a letter to Roberts warning that the order “seeks to bleach our history” and “is cowardly and antipatriotic.” He compared the proclamation with the efforts in “regimes of the twentieth century such as those of the Soviet Union and Germany of the 1930s”.
“We would not need exhibitions of African -American history if the United States had not been founded excluding African Americans and distorting our image,” said representative Jonathan Jackson, whose father is Reverend Jesse Jackson, the politician and activist for civil rights. The Jackson family is documented in multiple Smithsonian museums and said they have not been notified of changes in those exhibitions.
“So this makes American history complete, and I think (Trump) should visit it before trying to erase, eliminate and distort that tradition,” said Illinois Democrat. Trump visited the African -American Museum in 2017. After the tour, he wrote on social networks that the museum was “a great job done by incredible people!”
The protests are still questions about the future of Smithsonian
Civil rights leaders have organized as a result of Trump’s order. A coalition of more than three dozen groups launched on Monday a “freedom to learn” campaign that will include a demonstration and march of May 3 at the Smithsonian African -American Museum.
Among the associated organizations are the NAACP, the Urban National League, the National Coalition for Civic Participation, the black voters Matter, Movement for Black Lives, the National Black Women’s Council and the Leadership Coalition for Civil Rights.
The predominantly black churches have recovered to support the museum and organized protests and have asked for greater support to the museum following possible changes.
The National Museum of African -American History and Culture opened to the public in 2016. It contains more than 40,000 artifacts that document more than 400 years of African -American history. The exhibitions of the museum cover issues, including the daily life and culture of African Americans and the contributions of the community to the American culture, business, sports, sports and broader politics, as well as the impact of slavery, segregation and discrimination in the history of the nation.
Brown, 84, said he had previously had a “positive relationship” with the Smithsonian about the articles he had donated to the museum. As a youth activist in the civil rights movement, Brown was organized together with icons such as King, Activist Medgar Evers and Congressman John Lewis. He criticized the institution for “operating in secret” about the changes in the African -American Museum.
“Comport. Be respectful. Talk truth to those who sit in power seats,” Brown said about the appropriate response to any change in the museum. “Let’s be friendly and fair. If we don’t, Dr. King was right, Martin was right, if we don’t learn to live together, brothers and sisters, we will all perish as fools.”
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