A Radical, Activist Museum

Bad museum "slanders the Founding Fathers" because it doesn't portray history the way my second grade history book did

So the administration is mad at the Smithsonian. What a surprise.

Independence Day celebrations were barely over before the White House issued a very wordy report attacking the National Museum of American History, one of the cornerstone museums of Smithsonian’s collection of institutions along the National Mall in Washington.

“As this report shows, the Museum purposely presents America as a problematic country irredeemably conceived, founded by deeply flawed men, and still operating today as an instrument of systemic racism and oppression. In the Museum’s current telling, the country is, above all, defined by white supremacy, slavery, conquest, exclusion, hierarchy, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and systemic injustice,” the report from the Domestic Policy Council reads.

Wow.

I’ve been spending a lot of time at the National History Museum recently and was thinking they had really upped their game. It’s got the first frozen margarita maker. And the meth suit from Breaking Bad.

It’s got a whole collection of first ladies’ gowns. It’s got the first home microwave oven. It’s got an exhibit devoted to lowriders. It’s got a big-ass train, ships, and power machinery. A hilarious lunchbox exhibit. And yes, the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz.

And the actual Star-Spangled Banner.

It’s got a 19th century gilded eagle that one might have thought the current president would have approved of, but maybe he hasn’t seen it. Also one on money that features a real bank vault.

There’s plenty of stuff representing the political right. There’s a sign from a 2010 Tea Party protest and there’s MAGA regalia and a gun rights button, all part of the In Pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness exhibit.

There is an entire exhibit devoted to American democracy that goes beyond a tired listing of names and dates. And a military history exhibit.

“One of the most significant findings in this report concerns what is missing. It notes that a visitor to the Museum today will find no major exhibit dedicated to America’s Founding Era, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, other Founding Fathers, the Continental Congress, the Pilgrims, the Puritans, or major moments of the American Revolution, such as Washington’s crossing of the Delaware. Instead, visitors will find Founders, such as Benjamin Franklin, introduced chiefly through their connection to slavery while their decisive roles in building the Republic and their anti-slavery efforts are minimized or ignored,” the Domestic Policy Council report says.

But there is an exhibit celebrating the American presidency. I am not sure what the difference is between the Pilgrims and the Puritans — I think the report is conflating them, much as my second grade teacher did. And I don’t remember seeing anything in current exhibits about any of the Founding Fathers’ connections to slavery, although past exhibits have examined them.

And, of course, the museum is situated on the Mall, right near the Jefferson Memorial, dedicated to…Founding Father Thomas Jefferson. And next to the Washington Monument, dedicated to … Founding Father George Washington. And near the Lincoln Memorial, dedicated to Chief Freer of Slaves Abraham Lincoln.

And a few blocks away is the Smithsonian’s National Archives that house the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights, and that have an exhibit dedicated to the founding era.

Now, NMAH does have the entire Woolworth Greensboro lunch counter, made famous in 1960 when four African American students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College began a peaceful sit-in that helped kick off a movement that led to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Does the White House consider that shameful and embarrassing?

And there’s ACT UP’s Silence=Death T-shirt, which I am betting the current White House doesn’t like being in the museum, and some queer stuff, and a pink pussy hat.

The report attacks the museums for what it calls activism. It mentions Washington crossing the Delaware more than once. It’s not clear why that particular moment should be so very significant, other than, perhaps, that it was part of a decisive battle in the Revolutionary War that happened to have been captured in a well-known painting.

“It should also tell of the enormous technological, scientific, and economic progress America has bequeathed to the world, from the lightning rod, to the telephone, to the light bulb, to the assembly-line-produced car, the airplane, the moon landing, the cell phone, the personal computer, the internet, and much more,”the report reads.

I am guessing whoever wrote the report hasn’t been the museum, because the west half of the first floor is devoted to that stuff. Oh, also, there is a whole entire museum dedicated to airplanes and moon landings. That one is called the National Air and Space Museum. The White House folks should go see it sometime. It’s pretty cool, too.

The museum also provides moment after moment of absolute joy, like Puro Ritmo, which is in the National Museum of the American Latino’s only exhibition space, and a hands-on space for kids. NMAH just had two nights of live music for the Smithsonian’s Summer Solstice celebration and lots of folks showed up to dance inside and outside to that; no one looked unhappy or oppressed or like they hated America.

The report, like so much that has come out of the White House in this administration, reads like a rant.

There is a lot of anger about the lack of deference to the “Founding Fathers” and a lot of vitriol directed at the museum’s director, Anthea Hartig. There also seems to be an attempt to recast the role of a museum.

“NMAH does not tell visitors that citizens have a duty to obey the laws, respect the rights and property of others, and treat fellow citizens with equality. It does not tell visitors that citizens have a fundamental responsibility to join together in voluntary groups and civic associations to solve community problems without state intervention, actively participate in local politics, and make sacrifices for the communal good,” the report reads.

“It fails to mention that citizens have a responsibility to love their country, (italics are mine) prioritize the public good over private interests, and maintain the moral virtue necessary for free society. And it fails to tell visitors that citizens must remain watchful over the government and laws to maintain control over their own destiny.”

And, of course, the ultimate sin.

“The Museum makes no meaningful effort to acknowledge the central and positive role Christianity played in the Founding and flourishing of America. It was Christian conviction and principles that animated the abolitionist movement and Civil Rights Movement,” the report complains.

(More to come.)