Ava DuVernay Defends a Smithsonian Under Fire From Trump

New York Times

09-05-2025

The director Ava DuVernay on Thursday added her voice to those defending the Smithsonian Institution following President Trump's efforts to try to reshape its depiction of American history.
Ms. DuVernay, a prominent Black filmmaker whose works have included 'Selma' and '13th,' was receiving the Great Americans Medal in a ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington.
Speaking at the award ceremony, Ms. DuVernay praised the Smithsonian for being a place of education and inclusivity. 'Let me tell you about the families — Black, white, Native, immigrant — who walk through the doors of Smithsonian museums and feel that this country might just make room for them after all,' she said. 'That is not indoctrination. That is belonging. That is education. That is democracy.'
Her remarks came in the wake of an executive order by President Trump in March that accused the Smithsonian of promoting 'narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.'
The order, titled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,' said there had been an 'effort to rewrite our Nation's history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.'
In it, President Trump called for an end to spending on exhibitions or programs that 'degrade shared American values, divide Americans by race or promote ideologies inconsistent with federal law.'
The order has been seen by some as a threat in particular to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, which was cited by President Trump.
Several hundred protesters marched to the museum on Saturday, demanding that Black history and the museums that explore it be protected from interference.
In a public letter last month, four Democratic members of a House oversight committee urged Vice President JD Vance, who sits on the Smithsonian's board, to reject the attempt to impose the president's own views of American history. The legislators said the effort would threaten the Smithsonian's curatorial autonomy and excellence.
Ms. DuVernay did not mention Mr. Trump in her remarks but she clearly spoke to the thrust of the executive order.
She said that the Smithsonian's understanding of history 'feels especially urgent now at a time when truth itself is under revision and fear feels like an animating force, fear of mirrors, fear of memory, fear of the full American story told in its dazzling complexity and devastating contradictions.'
'We know that what is sometimes labeled improper ideology is in fact connective, that what some call distorted is simply a new perspective, long buried, now revealed,' she said.
The speech drew loud applause including at a moment when she praised Lonnie G. Bunch III, the Secretary of the Smithsonian, who has come under criticism from the administration. 'At the helm stands a man of vision, of class,' she said, calling him 'a curator of courage.'
'Under his outstanding stewardship, the Smithsonian has done what America must continue to do, confront the contradictions in our founding, illuminate the fault lines in our systems,' she said.
'There is no honor in history that flatters itself,' she said, adding, 'Let us remind those who try to restore a narrow, divisive view of the past that the future belongs to the whole of us.'
Ms. DuVernay received the award from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History 'for her extraordinary contributions to the nation as a director, writer, producer and film distributor,' the Smithsonian's website said. Previous recipients of the award include Madeleine K. Albright, Gen. Colin L. Powell, Anthony S. Fauci and Yo-Yo Ma.
According to the Smithsonian's website, 'Since its inception in 2016, the Great Americans Medal has honored trailblazers who have made a lasting impact in their fields and whose philanthropic and humanitarian endeavors have set them apart.'
She received the award onstage with Mr. Bunch, David M. Rubenstein, Smithsonian Regent Emeritus, and the history museum's director, Anthea M. Hartig. The Smithsonian posted a video on its website describing her achievements.
'DuVernay's extraordinary impact through the medium of film, using it to cast an unflinching eye on American history, brought her forward as someone who exemplifies the highest ideals of artistry, altruism and advocacy,' Ms. Hartig said in a statement. 'Her service and achievements embody the true meaning of a Great American.'
Ms. DuVernay, who has often been critical of President Trump, praised the Smithsonian earlier this week on MSNBC, where she noted the institution stuck with her honor despite her criticism. She said she welcomed receiving the award at a time when the Smithsonian is under pressure.
'If you can shut up the artists, if you can make us look away from history, then you do control minds, you control the moment,' she said.
In that interview she attacked the executive order as 'laughable' and accused the Trump administration of being obsessed with race.
'I actually take great solace in actually reading these executive orders because their level of absurdity actually calms me,' she said.