Black Art is Part of American History—Its Legacy Will Endure

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Black art is woven into the American story—from the Harlem Renaissance’s “New Negro” movement to Faith Ringgold’s narrative quilts, Kerry James Marshall’s canvases, and Dana C. Chandler Jr.’s activist imagery.

Yet a February investigation in Mother Jones shows that Trump’s early-term directives, which include cultural purges, mirror a White nationalist agenda to control who “counts” in our national narrative.

Safeguarding these artistic legacies will demand renewed vigilance. President Trump's Executive Orders in the first 100 days of his second term are evidence of this.

Trump started in February by placing severe restrictions on the use of grants from the National Endowment of the Arts.

The Executive Order prevents artists and organizations that apply for NEA grants from using the funds for any work or programs that "promote diversity, equity and inclusion." The EO forced the NEA to bar grants for projects with overt DEI or “anti-American” themes, requiring the federal agency to prioritize funding projects that celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026.

That meant canceling millions in awards to community arts organizations in what the administration called a measure to stand against “woke” ideology in publicly funded art.

In March, a new Trump directive dismantled the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The IMLS distributes grants worth about $160 million in all 50 states to support museum and library programming.

Administration officials told POLITICO, “This restructure is a necessary step to...ensure hard-earned tax dollars are not diverted to discriminatory DEI initiatives or divisive, anti-American programming in our cultural institutions.”

Next came an Executive Order from Trump that directly assailed the Black art and American racial record housed in one of the Smithsonian’s flagship museums.

In April, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Smithsonian Institution to remove “improper ideology” and “divisive narratives.” In it, he singled out two Smithsonian museums, one of them the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) for content his administration deems race-centered ideology. 

The administration sees this content focused on non-violent resistance against racism, including much of the art in the museum's collection, as a direct assault on White culture. 

He asserts the museum’s exhibitions perpetuate "divisive narratives that distort our shared history.”  

Many critics see this as part of Trump’s “war on woke,” which targets every part of the American story that doesn’t support a sanitized narrative of its history. 

“It seems like we’re headed in the direction where there’s even an attempt to deny that the institution of slavery even existed, or that Jim Crow laws and segregation and racial violence against Black communities, Black families, Black individuals even occurred,” historian Clarissa Myrick-Harris, a professor at Morehouse College told AP.

Shortly after the EO was signed, April Ryan, White House Correspondent and Bureau Chief of Black Press USA reported sources informed her the Trump administration planned to dismantle and return the original Woolworth’s 1960 Greensboro lunch counter sit-in exhibit to its owners.

That was followed by a WUSA9 interview with civil rights leader, Rev. Amos Brown, about the removal of his artifacts from an exhibition at NMAAHC.  

But Smithsonian vehemently denies any exhibition or artifact removals at the Trump administration’s behest.

For generations, the Black American community has built and supported institutions that safeguard its historical and cultural narratives.

“African American culture is the quintessential American experience. If you want to understand resilience and optimism, look to this community,” says Dr. Lonnie Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution—underscoring why preserving Black art is central to America’s cultural heritage.

As they’ve long done, Black churches are mobilizing to protect this monument to Black culture. Their goal is to defend the holdings and secure the funding of what the Black community affectionately calls the “Blackstonian,” if Trump moves to cut its budget.

One key leader in this movement is Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, which has a long history of social activism and a wide array of community outreaches. It joined the NMAAHC as an institutional member and committed to making it one of the church's outreach programs. Its pastor, Rev. Otis Moss III, is encouraging his members to join NMAAHC, saying, "For only $25 a year, you can protect Black history.”

Other churches are following Moss’ lead. Bishop Timothy Clarke of the First Church of God in Columbus, Ohio, said he would make a similar appeal to his predominantly African American congregation.

Senior minister Rev. Jacqui J. Lewis at Middle Church in New York City, a multiracial congregation affiliated with the United Church of Christ, also supports the effort. The church has held membership in NMAAHC since it opened in 2016 and just made another donation to them in response to Trump’s policies. She said it was a $1,000 “Easter Love donation.”

Respected curator and art advisor Destinee Ross-Sutton says about Black art, “It’s part of world culture, of art history, and history is being made every day. Black art should be appreciated for its contribution to humanity and history.”

Preserving the stories housed in NMAAHC goes beyond curating art and artifacts and building exhibits. It safeguards the full American narrative we owe future generations.

© 2025. Dahna M. Chandler for ChandArts Media, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this post may be reproduced, reposted, or used for AI/LLM training without the author’s express written permission.