The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the 110-year-old institution responsible for founding Black History Month, is leading a concerted effort to push back against a presidential directive targeting archival materials and exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution.
The dispute began earlier this week, when the president posted on social media, criticizing the Smithsonian museums as “OUT OF CONTROL.”
He claimed they focused excessively on “how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”
He called for the same type of review that had been applied to colleges and universities, declaring, “WOKE IS BROKE.”
In response, the White House issued an executive order, number 14235, launching a complete review of all Smithsonian archival materials to align with a new initiative termed “Restore Truth and Sanity to American History.”
The order aims to purge exhibits or artifacts that do not conform to the administration’s definition of American exceptionalism.
ASALH characterized the administration’s actions as an attempt to “erase the lived experiences of Black people.”
In reaction, the organization announced a partnership with other civil rights groups, including the African American Policy Forum (AAPF), to lead a “National Week of Action.”
Central to this mobilization was the “Hands Off Our History” rally, staged at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, affectionately known as the “Blacksonian”, in Washington, D.C. ASALH also shared a blueprint for sustained “daily acts of resistance,” invoking a reflection by Toni Morrison, “The move toward a final solution is not a jump. It takes one step, then another, then another.”
ASALH situates these events within a broader pattern dating back to 2017.
According to the organization, the timeline began with what it calls the “whitelash election” of that year. It continued with a surge in anti-Black sentiment and white supremacy following the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
In 2023, ASALH cites the banning of more than 10,000 books, many featuring people or characters of color, as another step.
And earlier in 2025, multiple executive orders were issued prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across higher education, medical settings, K–12 history courses, research, and science.
ASALH asserts that these cumulative steps are not isolated, but rather part of a deliberate, escalating campaign. The group points to actions like defunding libraries, whitewashing curricula, dismantling the Department of Education, deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and undermining the Black middle class as further evidence.
Such efforts, ASALH warns, are part of a scheme to rewrite and distort the historical narrative by eliminating “any mention of the racist actions, words and deeds that have shaped American history.” Yet despite the mounting pressure, ASALH conveyed confidence in its readiness.
The organization emphasized its longstanding mission to preserve the legacies of figures such as Dr. Carter G. Woodson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ella Baker, Constance Baker Motley, Derrick Bell, Harriet Tubman, Paul Robeson, Dorothy I. Height, Juanita Jackson Mitchell, Vincent Harding, and Barbara Jordan.
As truth-seekers and defenders of history, ASALH stressed its obligation “to speak the truth to the people.”
With its annual conference scheduled for September 24–28 in Atlanta, ASALH indicated that it will use every available platform to organize and prepare for what it described as an ongoing struggle.
The group affirmed, “This is not the end of our fight, nor is it the beginning. It is merely a continuation of the work we have been doing as an organization since 1915, and as a people since we first arrived here.”
By: Joshua Narh