The Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s 2026 Black History Month theme is “A Century of Black History Commemorations.” This year marks the tremendous milestone of 100 years of official Black History Month celebration in the United States. As such, this year and the foreseeable future in the U.S. should be concerned with continuing this legacy; honoring and acknowledging Black histories, labor, rights and lives. Predictably, but nonetheless unfortunately, politicians in charge don’t agree.
It’s no secret that the Trump administration and Bigot-in-Chief himself, President Donald Trump lead a party rooted in racism. Casual online conservatism like that which pervades the recesses of Elon Musk’s hate-child “X,” formerly known as Twitter, has grown into a festering lagoon of ignorance and prejudice — one which in-office Republicans actively feed like a TikTok trad-wife’s sourdough starter.
Trump and his Make America Great Again following have cultivated reputations built through discrimination practices for a long time, but this term is different. Today they’re openly abusing federal power to degrade nonwhite histories in public knowledge reserves — a flaming indicator of fascist censorship.
Through a plethora of executive orders, Trump has been targeting public historical resources, seemingly attempting to wipe clean traces of the murky colonial cocktail U.S. history is stained from. In his 2025 “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order, Trump specifically targets Black historical resources in museums like the Smithsonian and The National Museum of African American History and Culture. He calls for a restoration of the Smithsonian specifically with the goal of returning it “to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness,” allowing it to instill “pride in the hearts of Americans.”
What this self-aggrandizing nationalist rhetoric really means is Trump is heading a concerted effort to remove exhibits in the Smithsonian that don’t fit his white supremacist agenda. His executive order mocks claims of oppression and discrimination at the hands of the U.S. government — a disgraceful attempt to invalidate over 250 years of struggling and resilience for African Americans.
Ironically, through the erasure of nonwhite histories, Trump is only reproducing the very perspectives and government practices that created histories of violence and oppression for Black U.S. residents in the first place. Of course, this makes no difference to the Trump administration, because the goal isn’t to erase oppression — it’s to cloud public understanding so identifying it becomes harder.
The Smithsonian’s diversity office closed in January 2025 along with countless others across the country, but the museum has pushed back against allegations surrounding the removal of artifacts and exhibits related to African American history, stating “Recent claims that objects have been removed for reasons other than adherence to standard loan agreements or museum practices are false.”
Business as usual preservation practices haven’t remained within reach for all public institutions, though, especially in the case of national parks. The New York Times reports an outdoor exhibit in Philadelphia’s Independence National and Historical Park was removed in January in accordance with Trump’s executive order. The exhibit, entitled “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,” memorialised nine people enslaved by George Washington, highlighting the friction between slave ownership and the Declaration of Independence’s content.
Shortly after the exhibit’s removal, Independence National and Historical Park was met with public outcry. The exhibit’s former placard was covered in paper notes reading, “Learn all history.” The city of Philadelphia eventually sued the Trump administration over the issue, and on Presidents Day, federal judge Cynthia Rufe ruled on the side of Philadelphia, ordering the exhibit be restored in its original state.
While these instances did not end in a permanent removal of materials citing Black history, it’s enormously alarming the White House believes it has the power to whitewash history so aggressively. It has before, and it will continue to try.
It must not be forgotten that Trump has connections to the removal of African American history in school curricula. In 2023, Trump-endorsed Florida Gov. Ron Desantis orchestrated the removal of AP African American History courses in Florida high schools. Shortly after, the College Board revised the banned course altogether, stripping several Black authors and critical themes from its curriculum in a seeming attempt to appease conservatives who flinch at the term critical race theory.
This loss of nonwhite histories in educational institutions is still happening today. Six of the University of North Carolina’s global studies research centers will soon face closures due to a reported loss of Title VI funding and North Carolina Legislature budget cuts, according to The Daily Tar Heel. These “sunsetted” centers include the Center for European Studies, the African Studies Center, the Carolina Asia Center, the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, the Institute for the Study of the Americas and the Center for Slavic Eurasian and East European Studies.
While white histories are included in this list, it’s easy to surmise that the impact of research center closures for each of these concentrations will not be equal. European and colonial histories have a much greater advantage over noncolonial histories in educational institutions when considering preexisting resource abundance and accessibility. The dominant Eurocentric historical narrative in U.S. education does not need remotely as much preservation as the histories of those it suppressed in the making of that narrative.
The message that should be reaped from these attacks against educational and public institutions preserving Black history is obvious. To Trump, the recognition of any record that doesn’t fit his delusional understanding of American exceptionalism is a threat. Truth is a threat.
If a country’s chief consolidating principle is so fragile that the mere existence of people destabilizes it, is it worth defending? Is it a sustainable system extending liberty and justice to all? Certainly not. It never has been.
But that does not mean change is beyond reach. Black histories in the U.S. have always induced discomfort in those with privilege because they confront the realities of colonialism — a system millions in the U.S. still benefit from. That discomfort isn’t a bad thing. It needs to be understood by engaging with the stories of others.
Even if the U.S. government won’t prioritize the preservation and perpetuation of Black histories, people will. The ASALH website reads, “Black history’s value is not its contribution to mainstream historical narratives, but its resonance in the lives of Black people.” Federal support — even public support — does not make stories more legitimate. In fact, one should always be critical of the histories a government chooses to cushion its identity in. The center of this issue must concern how Black history is produced and serves the people who tell it — not a political agenda.
Learn uncomfortable truths. Read the books authored by Black revolutionaries Trump and his political allies deem as “corrosive ideology.” Hear testimonies from those who bear the effects of corrupt business practices at the hands of artificial intelligence data centers, waste management facilities and animal agriculture operations. Extend money, attention and effort toward those whose endurance does not depend on the recognition of others, but who simply need the space and resources to realize their versions of better futures.
The experiences of those pushed to the margins of a society will always reveal the reality of that society’s priorities. As long as truth is spoken, recorded and learned beyond the short 28 days in February, a brighter, more equitable future remains possible.
