Why we’re holding a teach-in about American history at the Smithsonian | Kellie Carter Jackson and Nicole Hemmer

Podcasters, professors, journalists and ordinary citizens will gather in Washington as the Trump regime wages war on history

On 26 October, podcasters, professors, journalists and ordinary citizens will gather on the steps of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History for a teach-in in defense of history and museums.

The teach-in comes at a moment when the Smithsonian system faces unprecedented attacks from the Trump administration, which has threatened to bar funding for any exhibits that touch on the darker sides of US history. The threats against the Smithsonian are part of the administration’s war against history and historians: interfering in history curricula at schools across the country, redirecting federal grants to projects that promote American exceptionalism, and yoking the country’s 250th anniversary celebration to the Maga agenda.

Kellie Carter Jackson is the Michael and Denise Kellen ’68 associate professor and chair of the Africana studies department at Wellesley College. Nicole Hemmer is an associate professor of history and director of the Rogers Center for the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University