Yesterday, President Trump issued an executive order that attempts to dictate what history is shared at Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service sites. The order seeks to replace evidence-based history with a deceptive, exclusionary narrative at some of our nation’s most important cultural and historical institutions. This political interference in the practice of history is an attack on the values of the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), the standards of our field, and the desires of most Americans for an open and honest exploration of the past.
We must remember that this executive order runs counter to multiple recent studies showing that most Americans want to explore the nation’s history in its full depth and complexity. Censoring what information about the past Americans encounter—especially the experiences of people of color, LGBTQ+ people, women, and other commonly marginalized groups—limits the public’s ability to understand our history. Tellingly, the order also shows no trust in the American public to think for themselves.
The executive order exerts undue political influence on historical practice and privileges a solely celebratory story of America, one motivated by political ideology rather than evidence and critical thinking. It also ignores decades of scholarship and interpretation, undermining the expertise of committed history professionals.
Like detective work, doing history is a rigorous, complex, and ongoing process. It requires evaluating evidence, employing different methods, and revisiting the stories we tell as we uncover new information. Attempting to disregard this process and instead promote a false, sanitized narrative hinders our efforts to become a more perfect union through the study of the nation’s past.
AASLH believes that a full, shared history of the United States is essential to making progress toward a more free, just, and democratic society. We stand firm in our commitment to supporting the efforts of the history community to tell everyone’s story and to defending history practitioners’ ability to do their work free from censorship and political pressure.
With the nation’s 250th anniversary fast approaching, we call on the field to be thoughtful and strategic in opposing these actions.
