The American Historical Association (AHA), a D.C.-based advocacy group, has issued a statement condemning a recent White House executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution, which relies on federal funding to drive a significant part of its operation.
The order accuses the Smithsonian, which oversees a network of more than 20 museums and research centers, of promoting “improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology,” a claim the AHA calls a blatant misrepresentation of the Institution’s work.
“The Smithsonian is one of the world’s leading research institutions, dedicated to the careful study of history based on evidence,” the statement reads. “Visitors explore exhibitions and collections in which they can find themselves, their families, their communities, and their nation represented. They encounter both our achievements and the painful moments of our rich and complicated past.”
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Twenty-two other organizations also signed onto the statement, among them the College Art Association and PEN America.
AHA executive director Jim Grossman, a specialist in American urban history, has spoken out against the order, saying that the Smithsonian’s role in preserving and interpreting American history is under threat and that the order’s language contributes to misinformation campaigns.
“You cannot – you simply cannot ignore the fact – and this is not a theory; it’s a fact – that the United States is divided by race,” Grossman said in an interview with NPR this week. “You can’t ignore the fact that power has been distributed unequally in the United States in part along racial lines. We want to understand that. We don’t want to propagandize people.”