Trump’s comment on the Smithsonian Museum’s misunderstanding of slavery
President Donald Trump brought his social media platform, the real social platform, to re-condemn the Smithsonians on Tuesday. He claimed that the museum network was only dedicated to showing “how terrifying our country is, how bad slavery is, and how difficult it is to be solved by overwhelming people.” But his spleen outbreak also had a broader goal: not only “the museum in Washington,” but also “all over the country,” which he described as “the last part of ‘Wake’.”
“How bad is slavery?” This is not the only thing these museums are designed to portray. The comment itself presents a limited and dangerous view of these institutions.
Consider the gallery of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), one of many institutions run by the Smithsonians. These galleries do present the transatlantic slave trade as a horrible violent institution, so Trump is at least right in this regard. The NMAAHC collection proves this reality: Visitors can find an ankle shackle that will kidnap enslaved people together, used old photos of narrow structures used to make people as property, and an advertisement from 1848, expected to receive a $250 reward for capturing the capture of “3 Black Girls” described as the capture of the Railways. But this is where Trump is not at the base: NMAAHC is equally focused on the concepts of survival and liberation.
In the same series, visitors can also find handkerchiefs owned by Harriet Tubman, or offer her a monument in the form of Alison Saar’s 2007 sculpture that depicts Tubman moving south. In the gallery of visual arts, Jacob Lawrence’s prints depict plots throughout his life as a white abolitionist John Brown, although he is not always the main theme of these works. A 1977 print shows Brown turning with his back to the audience, a group of liberated black men staring at us without any mercy.
NMAAHC clearly outlines its gallery’s goal “Slavery and Liberty” on its website, describing one of its core concepts: “African Americans constantly and consistently create new visions of freedom that benefit all Americans.” Those visions of freedom are those that Trump seems to have overlooked rather than a reaction to the perceived slight reaction when he reduced the exhibition on “How bad is slavery.” These shows are as much as perseverance and are related to tragedy.
It is clear, at least among the greatest in Washington, D.C., that in recent memory, “African Atlantic History,” which appears in 2022 at the National Gallery of Art, an institution that is not part of the Smithsonians. Cutoff and revised version of this famous exhibition, which debuted in St. Paul in 2018, is a sprawling exhibition focused on slavery as it influences people on both sides of the Atlantic, thus facilitating a series of artistic responses past and present. Some works graphically depict violence caused by white Americans and Europeans against enslaved people. One of the works here is the 2017 work of Arthur Jafa, which accounts for 1863 photos. Search backone of the escaped men named Gordon stretched his back to the camera, making his scar network visible.
But given its focus on freedom and durability, the show’s message is ultimately exciting. In the catalogue, curators Adriano Pedrosa, Hélio Menezes, Lilia Moritz Schwarcz and Tomás Toledo not fully grasp the utopia of freedom: a permanent desire for the United States, they were forced to take the permanentness of the United States. Therefore, there are also works, such as Nona Faustine’s 2013 photo, which the artist departed from in the New York’s Financial District, an area once a market for enslaved people. Faustine described the act as a “huge risk” because she could have been arrested for public indecent acts and showed her great strength and courage.
As National Art Curator Kanitra Fletcher pointed out in an interview Culture Type“African Atlantic History” “is not only related to slavery, but actually born from horrible experiences.” It is important that it is also about “how African diaspora constitutes all these voices and lives and experiences.”
Those experiences possible Trump suggests that if only some core factors are removed from the narrative, it will have a place in his country’s museums. This is a dangerous claim, as it has the potential to further distort the country’s history until it is no longer accurate.
Trump has now assured that his lawyers will investigate the museum. What will they search for? How will they handle this information? He did not say in his Truth Social Post, perhaps because he was not aware of the legal authority that he had to make changes to the country’s institutions. But I suspect he is seeking to force or at least scare intimidation-Muss edits their speech on slavery, a gesture that presumably involves viewing artworks with the theme of liberation.
For now, the NMAAHC and other Smithsonian Museums continue to display these works, which is a sign of hope.
For example, visitors can visit the Smithsonian Museum of American Art to admire Martin Puryear Blood vessel (1997–2002), a wooden sculpture containing a thick-bottomed wood. Thanks in part to its title, the sculpture is often compared to the slave ship, a way of thinking reinforced by other pure works whose title is a more explicit reference to slavery. (His 2014 Slavery Memorial HallIn Brown University’s view, it remains one of the most eye-catching public artworks on this subject. and Other topics. Blood vessel Not only about “how bad is slavery”. That’s it, and there are more.
