On August 21, the Trump administration published an unsigned article on the White House website attacking several Smithsonian museums and their exhibitions for promoting what it described as "woke" content. The article specifically called out the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of American History, the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and two planned institutions—the National Museum of the American Latino and the American Women’s History Museum. It cited exhibitions and artworks addressing race, transgender identity, and immigration, including Amy Sherald’s painting *Trans Forming Liberty* (2024), which led the artist to cancel her solo show at the National Portrait Gallery after the museum sought to remove the work to avoid provoking Trump.
This matters because it represents an unprecedented direct pressure campaign by the White House against the Smithsonian, an independent institution it does not legally control, signaling a deepening politicization of cultural heritage and museum programming. The administration’s granular targeting of specific exhibitions and artworks threatens to chill curatorial freedom and self-censorship in museums, while also galvanizing artists and critics who see the attack as a defense of inclusive storytelling. The incident underscores the ongoing battle over how American history and identity are represented in national museums.