WASHINGTON, D.C. – The director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Kevin Young, is on personal leave as of March 14, according to reports, shortly after President Trump’s executive order targeting Smithsonian funding.
According to The Washington Post, Young, who has served as director since 2021, is on leave for an “undetermined period,” Kevin Gover, Smithsonian under-secretary for museums and culture, wrote in the email.
Shanita Brackett, the museum’s associate director of operations, has been appointed acting director in Young’s place.
Trump issues order to force museums to remove ‘improper ideology’
President Donald Trump has issued an order attempting to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution, targeting funding for programs that advance “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.” It’s his latest step in a broadside against culture he deems too liberal.
Trump targets Smithsonian’s funding and programming
The backstory:
This news comes roughly a week after Trump announced his plan to implement changes at the Smithsonian Institution through an executive order that aims to restrict funding for programs promoting “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology,” marking yet another step in his pushback against cultural elements he sees as too liberal.
Trump claimed that a “concerted and widespread” effort over the past decade has sought to rewrite American history by replacing “objective facts” with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” He argued that this approach casts the nation’s “founding principles” in a “negative light.”
The executive order, signed behind closed doors, assigns Vice President JD Vance — who serves on the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents — with overseeing efforts to “remove improper ideology” across the institution. This includes its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.
It’s the latest move by the Republican president to challenge cultural institutions, like universities and the arts, which he believes do not align with conservative values.
Trump recently installed himself as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, aiming to overhaul programming, including the Kennedy Center Honors awards show.
The administration also pushed Columbia University to make policy changes by warning it could lose hundreds of millions in federal funding.
What they’re saying:
Trump specifically criticized the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016 near the White House, the Women’s History Museum still in development, and the American Art Museum.
“Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,” he wrote.
Linda St. Thomas, the Smithsonian Institution’s chief spokesperson, told the Associated Press in an email late Thursday, “We have no comment for now.”
The Source: Information from the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and FOX 5 reporting was used to write this report.