You've probably seen the headlines or heard the heated debates at the dinner table. There’s a lot of noise out there. People use phrases like "patriotic education" on one side and "systemic erasure" on the other. But when we strip away the campaign slogans, what does the actual data say about Trump erasing black history from the American consciousness?
Honestly, it's a complicated mess of executive orders, funding shifts, and a massive tug-of-war over who gets to tell the American story. It isn't just about one guy; it's about a fundamental shift in how the federal government views the past.
The 1776 Commission and the "Patriotic" Pivot
Back in 2020, the first version of the 1776 Commission dropped like a bombshell. Critics called it a "whitewashed" version of history. Supporters saw it as a necessary shield against the 1619 Project. When Trump returned to office in 2025, one of his first big moves was to bring this commission back from the dead.
The goal? Basically to move away from any curriculum that frames the United States as "inherently racist."
The 1776 Report specifically argues that the Civil Rights Movement was a "national movement" of all races, which sounds nice, but historians like those at the American Historical Association (AHA) point out that it de-emphasizes the specific, brutal struggle of Black Americans against a system designed to keep them down. By framing it as a group effort where everyone eventually agreed, the specific agency and sacrifice of Black activists kinda gets blurred into the background.
Why the 1619 Project became Public Enemy No. 1
Trump has been very vocal about the 1619 Project, calling it "propaganda."
- He views it as "child abuse" to teach kids that the country was founded on oppression.
- His administration's 2025 executive order, Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling, explicitly targets these "divisive concepts."
- Schools that keep teaching these perspectives face the threat of losing federal funding.
This creates a massive "chill effect." Even if a teacher isn't technically "erasing" history, the fear of losing their job or their school's budget makes them stick to the safest, most sanitized version of the story.
The War on DEI: More Than Just Buzzwords
It's not just about textbooks. It’s about the people currently making history too.
In early 2025, a series of executive orders—specifically EO 14151—effectively gutted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices across the federal government. To some, this is just "anti-woke" posturing. To others, it's a direct attack on the infrastructure that ensures Black history and Black voices are represented in the present-day workforce.
According to reports from the ACLU and the NAACP, these orders don't just stop at training sessions. They target federal contracts and grants. If a university or a private company wants federal money, they often have to prove they aren't running "discriminatory equity programs." This essentially forces institutions to choose between their DEI values and their bank accounts.
The HBCU Paradox
Here’s where it gets really confusing. Trump often mentions his support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). He did sign the FUTURE Act in his first term, which made $255 million in annual funding permanent.
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However, the 2025 budget proposals tell a different story.
- Title III Funding: Significant cuts were proposed to Title III, which HBCUs rely on for infrastructure and faculty development.
- Pell Grants: Since over 75% of HBCU students use Pell Grants, any reduction or restriction on these—like the 2025 proposal to limit year-round eligibility—hits these schools harder than almost anywhere else.
- Student Loans: Pausing loan forgiveness programs disproportionately impacts Black graduates, who statistically carry the highest debt loads.
So, while the rhetoric says "I love HBCUs," the actual policy levers being pulled are making it harder for those same institutions to keep the lights on and for their students to graduate debt-free.
Erasure in the Public Square
Have you noticed changes in your local national park or federal website?
Congressman Bennie Thompson has been documenting what he calls the "silencing of our voice." His reports highlight the removal of Black historical figures from certain national websites and the stripping of Black Lives Matter murals from federal land in D.C.
Under the Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History order (March 2025), the Department of the Interior was tasked with reviewing monuments and markers. The language is sneaky. It talks about removing "false reconstructions" of history. In practice, this has often meant removing markers that explained the role of slavery at certain historical sites or downplaying the "unvarnished truth" that the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is mandated to tell.
What This Means for the Future of Education
The biggest impact isn't in Washington; it's in the classroom of a third-grader in New Jersey or a high schooler in Georgia.
When the federal government labels Black history as "divisive," it empowers state legislatures to pass even stricter bans. We're seeing "Teach Truth" campaigns popping up because educators are genuinely scared.
Take the case of Tamar LaSure-Owens, a teacher who noted that when history is reduced to "a few sanitized stories about Civil Rights heroes" in February, it’s not education—it’s a performance. By removing the context of why those heroes had to fight, the history becomes a fairy tale where everything just fixed itself.
How to Protect the Narrative: Actionable Steps
If you're worried about the impact of Trump erasing black history, sitting around and being mad isn't going to change the curriculum. History is a living thing. It lives in records, in stories, and in local communities.
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- Support Local School Boards: The federal government can't dictate every single lesson plan, but they can exert pressure. Your local school board has more direct control over what your kids read. Show up to meetings. Ask about the "inclusive curriculum" policies.
- Invest in "Freedom Schools": Organizations like the Children's Defense Fund and various local Black history preservation societies are running after-school and summer programs that teach the history that's being cut from the classroom.
- Document Your Own History: The Smithsonian can't hold everything. Local archives, church records, and family oral histories are the ultimate defense against erasure. If the government removes a digital record, make sure a physical or community-held record exists.
- Watch the Budget, Not the Tweets: Don't get distracted by the social media wars. Watch the Department of Education's budget filings. That’s where the real "erasure" happens—when the money for Black history programs simply disappears from the ledger.
At the end of the day, history isn't just something that happened in 1776 or 1619. It’s what we choose to remember today. The policies coming out of the White House right now are a clear attempt to reshape that memory. Whether that's "patriotic" or "erasure" depends entirely on whether you believe a nation gets stronger by facing its flaws or by hiding them.