Critics question why exhibits at the African American History Museum are rotating out
Source: NBC News
May 17, 2025, 5:46 PM EDT
Before sunrise in Baltimore on Friday, the Rev. Robert Turner, senior pastor of the Empowerment Temple AME Church, set out to walk 43 miles from his church to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Turner, who has made the trip from Baltimore to D.C. more than 30 times to call for reparations for Black people across America because of the consequences of slavery, made the 14-hour journey this week to protest what he says is an attempt by the Trump administration to erase important American history. For him, the future of the museum that he and many other Black people lovingly call the “Blacksonian” is worth every step. “If you don’t know the horrors that we went through, the hell, then you might not see the need for repairing,” Turner said.
“It’s important for President Trump to know this issue of saving the Blacksonian and the issue of repairing America, and creating a culture of repair is very important to saving the soul of America.” The context: Decades-old artifacts related to slavery and civil rights are rotating out of exhibits at the museum as a potential White House review looms. In late March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding in part that the museum take down any exhibits that “divide Americans based on race.”
But now, the White House says it is not involved in any changes at the museum, while Democrats in Congress are sounding the alarm, signing a letter and introducing legislation to protect civil rights landmarks. NBC News went inside the museum and found at least 32 artifacts that were once on display have been removed. They include Harriet Tubman’s book of hymns filled with gospels that she is believed to have sung as she led enslaved people to freedom through the underground railroad, as well as a cloth made by enslaved people and a photo of the hip-hop group Public Enemy.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/critics-question-exhibits-african-american-history-museum-are-rotating-rcna207432
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From the "you can't erase history" people. 
