Executive Order No. 14253, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, President Donald J. Trump, signed March 27, 2025, 90 Federal Register 14563 (April 3, 2025) (Full Document) . "This article was drafted with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model. All content has been reviewed and edited by Vernellia Randall to ensure accuracy and coherence."
On March 27, 2025, President Donald Trump signed a presidential action titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. The directive instructs the Smithsonian Institution and related federal entities to eliminate exhibits and programs considered "divisive," "anti-American," or inconsistent with so-called "shared American values." It explicitly targets content that "divides Americans based on race," including presentations of African American history, systemic racism, and other equity-based narratives. It prohibits the recognition of transgender women in the American Women's History Museum and calls for the restoration of monuments removed since January 1, 2020—many of which were taken down during racial justice protests. Federal funding is tied to institutional compliance, and the order also mandates improvements to Independence National Historical Park in preparation for the United States' 250th anniversary.
The 2025 directive Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History is not a neutral historical correction but an ideologically driven attempt to reshape public understanding of American identity. Though framed as a return to patriotic values, the action promotes a narrow, sanitized version of history that erases marginalized voices and undermines movements for racial, gender, and social justice.
Silencing Racially Inclusive Narratives
The order's claim that some content "divides Americans based on race" obscures the reality that racial division is not caused by acknowledging racism—it is the result of racism itself. The directive targets exhibitions and educational efforts that address slavery, segregation, civil rights, and other forms of systemic harm experienced by Black Americans, Indigenous peoples, and other communities of color.
Far from being "improper," these narratives are essential to understanding the American experience. Erasing them from public institutions diminishes the nation's collective memory and invalidates the long struggle for historical inclusion led by civil rights activists, educators, and community leaders.
Recasting Truth as a Threat
By framing truth-telling about racism and inequality as "anti-American," the directive turns the pursuit of justice into an ideological danger. It casts educators, historians, and curators as divisive for simply doing the work of historical accuracy. This approach prioritizes white comfort over racial truth and positions efforts to confront injustice as inherently unpatriotic.
Such reframing echoes a long tradition of backlash politics, from McCarthy-era censorship to attacks on ethnic studies and critical race theory. It is a denial strategy—meant not to unify, but to silence.
Rejecting Intersectionality and Gender Justice
The directive's ban on recognizing transgender women in the American Women's History Museum is part of a more significant attack on intersectionality—the understanding that race, gender, sexuality, and class interact to shape lived experience. Erasing trans women, especially trans women of color, from public history is a form of cultural erasure that denies their existence and their contributions.
This move reinforces a rigid, exclusionary vision of national identity—one that privileges whiteness, cisgender identity, and heteronormativity as the default framework of American history.
Weaponizing Federal Funding
By conditioning federal support on compliance with this narrow historical narrative, the directive transforms cultural institutions into tools of ideological enforcement. The threat of losing funding may push museums, educators, and researchers to self-censor, silencing critical scholarship and stifling public discourse.
This strategy mirrors broader systemic dynamics that reward conformity and punish dissent, especially when confronting America's racial legacy. It ensures that only histories aligning with dominant interests are given space, resources, or legitimacy.
Restoring Symbols of Racial Oppression
The push to restore monuments removed after 2020—including many honoring Confederate leaders, colonizers, and enslavers—sends a chilling message. These removals were part of a democratic reckoning with injustice led by communities seeking truth and healing. Reinstalling these statues is not about history—it is about power.
These monuments were erected to uphold white supremacy, not to educate or unify. Restoring them is an attempt to reclaim a version of the past that glorifies racial oppression and silences resistance.
Conclusion
Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History is not about restoring truth but about reinstating dominance. It undermines the hard-won inclusion of marginalized voices in public history and uses the language of unity to justify the erasure of those who have struggled for recognition. It is a strategic effort to reassert a narrative that centers on whiteness, denies systemic injustice, and weaponizes public institutions against the pursuit of equity.
History belongs to all of us. If we are to build a just future, we must protect the complete, honest, and inclusive telling of our past—even—and especially—when it makes those in power uncomfortable.
Advocacy: Your Role in the FightResisting historical erasure requires action from educators, community leaders, artists, students, and everyday people. Here are concrete steps we can take together:
1. Demand Transparency and Accountability
Call on the Smithsonian and National Park Service to disclose any exhibit changes or funding decisions influenced by this directive. Insist on transparency and community participation in decisions that affect public historical narratives.
2. Support Independent History Projects
Support Black-led, Indigenous-led, LGBTQ+, and grassroots organizations that preserve and share marginalized histories. These institutions offer potent alternatives to state-sanctioned narratives.
3. Educate and Mobilize
Use classrooms, congregations, libraries, and community spaces to host teach-ins, panel discussions, and reading groups focused on inclusive historical education and racial justice.
4. Defend Academic Freedom
Your voice is crucial in defending educators, researchers, and curators who face political interference. Advocate for the freedom to teach and preserve truth.
5. Push for Legislative Oversight
Sample Letter to Congress
Subject: Oppose Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History—Defend Inclusive Public History
Dear [Senator/Representative Last Name],
I am writing to express concern about the March 27, 2025, presidential directive Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. This action censors historical narratives about racism, excludes transgender women, and conditions federal funding on adherence to a narrow, ideologically driven vision of American history.
I urge you to:
– Support legislation protecting the independence of cultural and historical institutions
– Demand public oversight of how this directive is being implemented
– Publicly affirm the value of inclusive, fact-based public education and history
We cannot confront injustice without first telling the truth. Please stand for historical integrity, academic freedom, and the communities whose stories are being silenced.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your ZIP Code]
[Optional: Add personal note]
6. Reclaim Public Memory
Join campaigns to remove symbols of oppression from public spaces and to create new monuments that honor resistance, resilience, and truth. History should reflect who we are and who we aspire to become.
7. Use Your Voice Online
Sample Social Media Posts
X/Threads:
📢 Trump's 2025 directive censors Black history, bans trans inclusion and reinstates racist monuments.
We must protect the truth in public life.
️🕏 Learn more ➡️ [Insert Link]
#TeachTruth #HistoryMatters #SayNoToCensorship
Instagram/Facebook:
🛑 The order to "restore sanity" in American history is an attack on truth.
It erases systemic racism, silences trans voices, and glorifies oppression.
📣 Take action now: [Insert Link]
#TruthIsPower #JusticeInHistory #RacialJusticeNow
Facebook/LinkedIn:
The presidential directive Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History uses the language of unity to suppress uncomfortable truths. It's an effort to control how we remember, who we honor, and what stories can be told.
History should not be censored—it should be honest.
📘 Read more ➡️ [Link]
📬 Write your reps ➡️ [Link to Letter]
#ProtectHistory #EquityInEducation #TeachTruth
History is not neutral—it is shaped by power.
This directive seeks to use that power to erase, silence, and control. We must respond with resistance grounded in truth, memory, and justice. The stories we preserve today will shape the possibilities of tomorrow.
