Leadership at ASALH: Trump Administration Will Not Erase Black American History

Fern Gillespie
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is under attack from the Trump administration as “anti-American.” Our Time Press spoke to the leadership of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the founding organization of Black History Month for insights. Leading Black History historians Dr. Karsonya “Kaye” Wise Whitehead, the president of the ASALH and a professor of communication and African and African American Studies at Loyola University Maryland and Brooklyn resident Dr. Zebulon Miletsky, an associate professor of Africana Studies at Stony Brook and ASALH Chair of Communications discussed their concerns that this presidential administration is attempting to erase the legacy of African American history.

OTP: Trump, who supported the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture during his first administration, now complains that “Everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.” What is the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) comments on his statement on slavery?
Dr. Whitehead: To be clear, slavery was bloody, it was brutal, it was horrific. So in that truth, it’s also an essential part of the American historical narrative. I think that that’s where we differ with 47 (Trump). His belief is that if you hide the history, if you erase the history, then essentially that means the history did not happen. We stand on the opposite end. We say you talk about the issue and discuss the history. So, people can understand and can learn the lessons from that. So, we can make sure that that particular narrative does not repeat itself. That we see indented in this belief that we don’t want to talk about the horrible things of America and slavery.

What is embedded in that is an intentional erasure history of Black people in this country. That’s an essential part of the American historical thread. Black history is American history. You cannot just take one section of it to erase it. Then say as long as we erase that, we’ll make sure that people feel good about history. About wrestling with the negative and the positive, because that is the story of America. America’s story is written in blood. It is written in brutality. It is also beautiful and it’s also poignant. And it’s a place of departure for young people to understand, to accept, to learn from, and to move forward from it.

What does ASALH think about the challenge by the Trump administration that the African American Smithsonian Museum has “anti-American” exhibits?
Dr. Miletsky: I was thinking about Dr. Lonnie Bunch, who founded the African American Smithsonian and now heads the Smithsonian. I read part of his memoir called “A Fool’s Errand.” He really tiptoed carefully around Trump the first time, when he was president, so that he could continue cultivating this amazing resource at the African American Smithsonian. Institutions like the Smithsonian definitely subscribe to the African American history is American history model.

I can’t think of a better example, a more fair, balanced approach to African American history. Now of course, Dr. Bunch oversees all of the Smithsonian museums. What’s happening now is clearly out of the page book of Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation. We’ve seen Trump do it with the universities and that’s what he’s basically doing now coming round to the museum space. In this case, museums under the federal government. I hope that that Trump will find a way to work with Dr. Bunch the way they worked together in the first in his first term.

Dr. Whitehead: Dr. Bunch recently put out on social media that he will defend the Smithsonian with every breath that he has. He said the Smithsonian will outlive those that are seeking to destroy it. ASALH stands firmly against any attempts to erase our history. Any attempts to change the narrative. We know we know that history is important. If you control the medium, you control the message. If you rewrite history it may not matter for the generations that are here now, because we still have that kind of oral narrative. We still have the books out there. But I’m thinking 50 to 75 years now when you are rewriting history and you’re removing history, you’re banning books, you’re taking words out of all of the narrative, and now you’re talking about removing artifacts and moving stories from the museums that are really tasked with holding our history. It is a long-term impact that of what we’re looking at this moment.

OTP: The federal government has already taken away some grants from Black cultural institutions. Do you think that more institutions will be cautious about dealing with Black historical issues?
Dr. Whitehead: I think more universities and institutions will be cautious. I think that that’s the other part that’s really concerning. Because of the ripple effect, I also think this might be a good time when we start looking at more state level and local museums of African American history. Where are they in terms of holding some of the history? Is moving and keeping these materials to more state level museums? We don’t want anything to get lost. We don’t want anything to be packed away. We don’t want anything to be erased. So there are places that perhaps we can look at that can hold this history for us. I think this is work for organizations like ASALH and the African American museums that are state level that can step in in this moment and do the heavy lifting that needs to happen now.

OTP: Do you think that the Trump administration’s acts against “diversity” are rooted in racism?
Dr. Whitehead: There is a through line between what is happening here and the rise of both white supremacy and anti-Blackness. Work is being done to change the narrative and change the history of race, and even erase anything that connects to the diversity, equity and inclusion that America has been building on and building toward for years. There’s an immediate erasure that is rooted in anti-Blackness. It’s very intentional. When you are banning books with over 75 percent of them being written either by or about people of color, well, that that’s an intentional act. If you banned diversity, equity, inclusion and education and science research and universities, that’s very intentional. You can begin to unpack what that means when its an intentional attack on the stories and the lives of Black people.

Like when you occupy Washington, DC, even though DC is not a state, it’s still very Black and very blue. It sends a show of what power is when it’s collated into hands that have an intentional act against Black people and Brown people. The work that we are doing at ASALH is we are trying to help people connect the dots. You can’t just see one act and assume that it’s not connected to the small steps that have taken place that have gotten us here. The question remains what comes next. At ASALH we are sending the alarm.

Dr. Miletsky: The Association for the Study of African American Life and History will be holding our annual meeting and conference from September 24th to 28 in Atlanta focusing on “African Americans and Labor.” We’re going to have Chris Smalls from Amazon, who organized the Amazon Black workers. Joe Trotter, who wrote the book on Black labor and urban studies will be speaking. Also journalist Joy Reid will be at the conference. To register, contact: www.asalh.org