WASHINGTON (AP) — A veteran activist of the Civil Rights Movement said he was notified by the Smithsonian Institution that items he loaned to the National Museum of African American History and Culture may be returned, amid a potential review of the museum's collections ordered by President Donald Trump.
Rev. Amos C. Brown, pastor of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, loaned two books to the Smithsonian, which have been displayed since the museum opened nearly a decade ago. One of his items is an edition of “The History of the Negro Race in America†by George Washington Williams, which was written in 1880 and is among the first books to document Black American history and racism in the U.S. The other is a Bible that Brown carried during protests alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The reasons given for the items’ return initially raised alarms that the Trump administration had begun to make visible changes to a museum considered to be .
Recent reports that the museum has already removed exhibits documenting the civil rights struggle are false, the Smithsonian said. The White House had no comment for this story.
However, the threat of changes to the African American museum has prompted strong responses from Democratic lawmakers, historians, civil rights leaders and education advocates, many of whom planned to demonstrate in support of the museum in the nation's capital Saturday.
Brown, who counts former Vice President Kamala Harris among his parishioners, received an email last month from a Smithsonian official telling him that his items would be returned over concerns about their preservation due to museum lighting. Brown told The Associated Press he found the claim “a flimsy excuse for a museum.â€
After the initial email to Brown, a different Smithsonian official reached out to him to express regret that the initial reason had caused a “misunderstanding,†Brown said. Instead, according to Brown, the official said Smithsonian archivists will defer to “a panel that will reconsider whether or not my artifacts should be there.†He said he was told this would be done for a wide range of historical artifacts.
Smithsonian officials did not respond to questions about whether such a panel has been formed.
After that interaction, Brown said a third Smithsonian official later reached out to him and scheduled a video conference meeting for Friday afternoon. He said he was not given the names of who would join the call, but was told it would include senior Smithsonian leadership.
The Smithsonian “routinely returns loaned artifacts per applicable loan agreements and rotates objects on display in accordance with the Smithsonian’s high standards of care and preservation and as part of our regular museum turnover," according to a statement the institution sent to the AP.
"Recent claims that objects have been removed for reasons other than adherence to standard loan agreements or museum practices are false,†the statement reads.
Language of Trump's executive order raised alarm
Concerns over potential reforms at the Smithsonian have arisen since Trump signed titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.†The order argued that the Smithsonian had in recent years “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology†and said the institution has “promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.â€
The order designated Vice President JD Vance and Lindsey Halligan, a senior White House aide, “to remove improper ideology†from Smithsonian properties, which include 21 museums and the National Zoo. The Smithsonian encompasses educational, research and archival centers meant to increase and spread knowledge. It manages more than 150 million artifacts.
The order cites several national parks and Smithsonian museums as displaying potentially objectionable content, including the African American museum.
The Smithsonian is governed by a Board of Regents that is chaired by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and includes Vance, members of Congress from both parties and major business executives and philanthropists. The board's next meeting is scheduled for June 9.
Lawmakers, academics and activists fear the order could eventually influence the Smithsonian to remove artifacts, exhibits or research that do not conform to the Trump administration's understanding of history.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sent a letter to Roberts warning that the order “seeks to whitewash our history†and “is cowardly and unpatriotic." He compared the proclamation to efforts in “twentieth-century regimes like those in the Soviet Union and 1930s Germany.â€
“We wouldn’t need African American history exhibits if America hadn’t been founded by excluding African Americans and distorting our image," said Rep. Jonathan Jackson, whose father is Rev. Jesse Jackson, the politician and civil rights activist. The Jackson family is documented in multiple Smithsonian museums and said they have not been notified of changes to those exhibits.
“So this makes American history whole, and I think (Trump) should go and visit it before he attempts to erase and delete and distort that tradition,†said the Illinois Democrat. Trump visited the African American museum in 2017. After the tour, he that the museum was â€A great job done by amazing people!"
Protests follow weeks of questions about the Smithsonian's future
Civil rights leaders have organized in the wake of Trump’s order. A coalition of more than three dozen groups on Monday launched a “Freedom to Learn†campaign that will include a May 3 rally and march at the Smithsonian’s African American museum.
Among the partnering organizations are the NAACP, National Urban League, National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, Black Voters Matter, Movement for Black Lives, National Council of Negro Women and the Leadership Coalition for Civil Rights.
Predominantly Black churches have and staged protests and called for greater support for the museum in the wake of potential changes.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened to the public in 2016. It contains more than 40,000 artifacts documenting more than 400 years of African American history. The museum’s exhibits span topics including the everyday life and culture of African Americans and the community’s contributions to broader American culture, business, sports, religion and politics, as well as the impact of slavery, segregation and discrimination on the nation’s history.
Brown, 84, said he’d previously had a “positive relationship†with the Smithsonian over the items he had donated to the museum. As a youth activist in the civil rights movement, Brown organized alongside icons like King, activist Medgar Evers and congressman John Lewis. He criticized the institution for “operating in secrecy†about the changes at the African American museum.
“Behave. Be respectful. Speak truth to those who sit in seats of power,†Brown said of the proper response to any changes at the museum. “Let’s be kind and just. If we don’t, Dr. King was right — Martin was right — that if we don’t learn to live together, brothers and sisters, we're all going to perish as fools.â€
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