On Tuesday, a Republican-led House subcommittee met to examine the Smithsonian Institution and question individuals who lead or defend the nation’s most prominent museums. During the politically charged hearing, Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett criticized her Republican colleagues while advocating for an accurate portrayal of American history.
Fighting right-wing attempts to ‘erase history’
“Welcome to the Republicans’ white pride rally disguised as a congressional hearing,” Crockett said as she opened her remarks during a hearing on the Smithsonian Institution and its depiction of American history.
Crockett used her opening statement to discuss the less pleasant parts of American history, including the displacement of Indigenous people, lynching and disenfranchisement of Black Americans, and the marginalization of women and disabled Americans.
She pointed to the recency of these events, noting that the four Black girls murdered in the 1963 Ku Klux Klan bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church would now be 74 to 77 years old had they lived, and that Ruby Bridges, the first Black child to integrate an all-white Southern school, is only 71.
In the face of this history, Crockett said, “attacks on the Smithsonian or any other institution that is willing to tell the true history of America is not only an attempt to rewrite history; it’s an attempt to erase history.”
Crockett then asked Yale University historian David Blight, Sterling Professor of History, African American Studies and American Studies, what should be done in response.
Blight responded that “we have to keep fighting to preserve what we are doing” at institutions that tell and preserve history.
“The purpose of history is to enlighten us, inspire us, trouble us, bother us, sometimes make us angry,” he said.
“Americans have to keep going to those places they trust. We have to keep those institutions trustworthy.”
Trump attacks Smithsonian as administration targets exhibits
Crockett’s remarks and Blight’s response came during the GOP-led Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee hearing titled, “Rewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian’s Efforts to Reshape the Past.”
The hearing reflects the Trump administration’s criticism of the Smithsonian’s presentation of American history. As Blavity previously reported, the Smithsonian has become a target of President Donald Trump’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, with the administration calling for changes to exhibits it says conflict with its view of American history.
In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order seeking to eliminate federal funding for Smithsonian “exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
On July 4, the Trump administration issued a report accusing the Smithsonian of engaging in “anti-white activism” and distorting American history.
Tuesday’s hearing by the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, which is affiliated with the Trump administration’s DOGE initiative, continued that scrutiny.
The hearing featured conservatives aligned with the Trump administration, including Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez and Hillsdale College professor Matthew Spalding, who served on Trump’s 1776 Commission.
It also featured Blight, who recently wrote a New York Times opinion essay accusing Trump of weaponizing history and engaging in “toxic culture war politics” through his attacks on the Smithsonian.
Also appearing was Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. She is mentioned multiple times in the administration’s July 4 report, which accuses her of being “more interested in political activism than historical scholarship.”
Hartig fielded questions from Republicans, including one asking whether “Mickey Mouse [is] racist?” — a reference to a Smithsonian exhibit discussing connections between early depictions of the character and blackface minstrelsy.
She also defended the museum.
“The museum does not take sides in America’s political debates,” Hartig told the subcommittee, adding that the White House report “does not fairly or accurately characterize the full body of work at the museum.”
As the Trump administration continues its criticism of the Smithsonian and other cultural institutions, historians and Democratic lawmakers have pushed back, arguing that preserving an accurate account of American history remains essential.