America's museums stopped teaching history and started rewriting it – and most people had no idea it was happening.
Now a Texas historian walked into the most famous museum in the country and confirmed every suspicion.
What he found inside the Smithsonian is something the woman running it just told Congress she has absolutely no regrets about.
The Smithsonian Director Who Turned a Taxpayer-Funded Museum Into an Activism Machine
Dr. Jody Edward Ginn drove all the way from Texas after reading the Trump administration's bombshell Domestic Policy Council report, released July 4, accusing the National Museum of American History of abandoning "historical scholarship for political activism" and failing "in the basic task of illuminating our heritage."
The 162-page "Saving America's Story" spelled out what that looked like in practice.
The museum scrubbed the phrase "American history" from its own mission statement.
The Founding Fathers and Revolutionary history were buried.
It pushed anti-white, open-borders, and radical gender ideology content through its exhibits.
And it held no special events for America's 250th anniversary – not in 2025, not on July 4, 2026.
Ginn went to see it himself – and what he found confirmed every word.
"Its mission is clearly exactly what they changed it to be," Ginn told Fox News Digital. "It is a museum for activism."
"The biggest problem is in what they leave out," he said.
"It became this goal, their own stated goal, to turn museums from institutions of education, of public education, into institutions to encourage activism."
Smithsonian Director Anthea Hartig spent two days before Congress and couldn't find a single regret – except for a mislabeled coin.
Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois confronted Hartig directly about a gay liberation exhibit featuring what Miller called a "crotch harness," and pointed out that Hartig herself had filmed a welcome video specifically inviting children to attend.
Hartig's response: the exhibit had a parental advisory.
When Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee pressed Hartig on whether a 6-year-old girl asking why she didn't have male genitalia was appropriate museum content, Hartig refused to give a yes or no.
When asked to define what a woman is, Hartig declined multiple times.
When asked about her hundreds of political campaign contributions, she refused to explain them.
How the Smithsonian Kept Pushing Woke Ideology After Promising to Stop
The Smithsonian already got caught doing this once.
In 2020, its National Museum of African American History and Culture published a chart that declared "objective, rational linear thinking" a trait of white culture – then pulled it and apologized when the backlash hit.
Then the National Museum of American History kept right on going.
Heritage Foundation expert Mike Gonzalez testified that Smithsonian staff helped write a training guide called the "Museums as Sites for Social Action" (MASS Action) toolkit – and that the museum ran internal staff reading groups using it for three straight years after that 2020 apology.
The toolkit labels objectivity, individualism, and perfectionism as characteristics of "white supremacy culture."
Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas cornered Hartig in real time.
Hartig told him objectivity was important to the museum's mission. Politeness too.
Then he read directly from the MASS Action toolkit, which labels both as characteristics of "white supremacy culture."
Hartig's answer: "We didn't develop it."
Half a dozen current and former Smithsonian employees co-authored the toolkit, including an NMAH staff member. The museum's own 2022 excellence report – co-authored by Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch – praised it as a recommended staff training resource.
"The museum kept surreptitiously indoctrinating staff with this trash for three years after the museum apologized for using it," Gonzalez told lawmakers. "The promises of reform are written in sand."
The Smithsonian Removed "American History" From Its Mission Statement and Here Is Why
One detail from the hearings got almost no coverage.
During a 2024 presentation to history students, Hartig explained the decision to drop the phrase "American history" from the museum's mission statement.
Her reason: it was "hard to get out of the 'America First' mentality."
Ginn called what he witnessed a "massive shift" – a deliberate conversion of America's premier history institution into what he described as "a museum for activism" where exhibits are built to push visitors toward political action rather than inform them.
"You're going to have to put in new people who are committed to scholarly standards and non-politicized educational programming," he said. "These people have bought into it, hook, line and sinker."
Trump's executive order directed the National Park Service to post signs outside the museum alerting visitors to the administration's concerns.
That's a start.
But Hartig still has her job.
And she still has no regrets.
Sources:
- Kiera McDonald and Andrew Mark Miller, "Historian blasts Smithsonian's activism shift after first visit in over a decade," Fox News, August 4, 2026.
- "Smithsonian Director Grilled Over Sexually Explicit Exhibits," The Daily Signal, July 22, 2026.
- "Smithsonian museum director on hot seat over display of 'crotch harness,'" The Washington Times, July 22, 2026.
- "Smithsonian pushed 'revolting' social action training after 'whiteness' chart apology: expert," Fox News, July 23, 2026.
- "Hearing Wrap Up: Smithsonian National Museum of American History's Radical Agenda to Reshape the Past," House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, July 2026.
- "Smithsonian Director Humiliates Herself During House Hearing," PJ Media, July 21, 2026.