Trump Admin Continues To Order The Erasure Of American History From Our National Parks

Culture

from the slavery?-what-slavery? dept

Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it, as the old saying goes. And those who choose not to teach that history, to continue this to its logical conclusion, are actively attempting to repeat it. It’s within that logical framework that I have viewed our many posts on Trump Administration 2.0’s attempt to erase all sorts of history from the American psyche, in particular the history of the naughty things we have done, or of any mention of so-called “DEI,” which just means minority groups.

Examples of this abound. The National Park Service asked visitors to tell them which parts of American history exhibits make them feel bad so they can be removed. The Smithsonian Institute was ordered to do-wokeify itself, which meant getting rid of references to America’s little oopsies like slavery, genocide, internment camps, and CIA coups both successful and otherwise. Proud of our shared American military history? Well, go enjoy it on our federal websites… unless it’s about black, brown, or gay people, because they’re accomplishments mean nothing. The Enola Gay, as it turns out, was entirely too gay while nuking Japan for Trump’s taste.

And now, in furtherance of adhering to Trump’s executive order demanding all federal departments scrub their sites, digital and physical, of anything that might give Americans the sads, the National Park Service is removing references at Civil War sites and memorials to… slavery.

The White House has ordered the removal of signs and exhibits documenting American slavery, including a 1863 portrait of an ex-slave, often referred to as either Peter or Gordon, and the thick, variegated whip scars on his “scourged back.” Gordon’s photograph became one of the most widely circulated images of the horrors of U.S. slavery during the abolitionist movement.

Sites affected include Harpers Ferry National Historic Park in West Virginia, where abolitionist John Brown led an unsuccessful raid that eventually led to his capture and the start of the Civil War. Staff at Harpers Ferry flagged more than 30 signs, according to the Post.

Another affected site is the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, where George Washington kept slaves. Exhibits at that location apparently do not comply with the Park Service’s new order, according to sources that spoke with the Post.  

Now, telling the story of the Civil War without references to slavery is a bit like telling the story of the American space program without referencing rockets. I mean, you can do it, I guess. But to tell the story of Americans in space you kind of have to know how we got there. And to tell the story of the Civil War, you have to know how we got there, too. And that would be slavery, no matter what states’ rights dead-enders might try to tell you.

But part of what is at play here is another instance of sheer hypocrisy. These are places of learning, amongst other things. Education, one might call it, in the shared history of our country and culture. And the federal government is wielding an enormous amount of power over the curriculum of that history at these sites, even as they claim the opposite is needed in education elsewhere.

“This represents an enormous increase in federal power and control over the things we learn,” Jonathan Zimmerman, a University of Pennsylvania professor who studies the history of education, told the Post. “Brought to you by the team that says education should be state and local.”

That kind of hypocrisy from this administration is no surprise, of course. Truth is nothing, there are no morals or standards, and it’s all just a bend to whatever the whims of the mad king are at any given moment.

But this is our history. Not his. Not one party’s. And most certainly not one race. And it’s on all of us to keep that history alive in the face of those who wish to return us to a time before progress.

Filed Under: civil war, donald trump, history, national park service, national parks, nps, slavery