At the Porter Phelps Huntington Museum in Hadley, the exhibit “Forty Acres and the American Revolution: Stories of Independence and Servitude” opened in May, offering a more complicated presentation of the inequalities and contradictions that existed at the farm 250 years ago.
“The exhibit and accompanying programming centers on the varied ways that the lives of people who labored at the farmstead, including enslaved and Indigenous workers and British prisoners of war, were entwined with the American Revolution,” says Karen Sanchez-Eppler, a professor of American studies at Amherst College who led the project.
With the Trump administration in recent weeks in a public battle with the Smithsonian Museum over its presentations of American history, and already rescinding grants from the National Endowment for Humanities and Institute of Museum and Library Services, any future focus on enslavement and indentured labor could be harder to do.
“It is all about the contradictions and complexities that the present federal administration aims to suppress,” Sanchez-Eppler said of the exhibit, which will remain in place through 2026. “I would say, if anything, we are more committed to maintaining such programming than when we initially planned this exhibition.”
Such resolve is also in place at Historic Northampton, which is putting on the exhibit “Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654 to 1783.” Opened in July, and the result of more than six years of research, it recounts the details of the lives of the enslaved in the city prior to Massachusetts abolishing slavery.
While not reliant on federal money, and funded by private citizens in the city and beyond, co-directors Elizabeth Sharpe and Laurie Sanders say they are committed to exploring history that has often been untold.
“The mission of the organization is to explore and preserve the history of Northampton,” Sharpe said. “What our audience expects is to shine the light on all history.”
“People say tell the whole story, tell the truth, and we don’t intend to change that,” Sharpe said.
Inside the exhibit space, life-size silhouette figures include names and descriptions and what is known about the lives of the enslaved, providing what Sanders said is a quiet, contemplative and meaningful exhibit.
“The goal is to recognize those individuals and provide them with humanity, and dignity,” Sanders said. The exhibit, though, also describes those who were the enslavers.
Targeting the Smithsonian
Much of the national focus has been on the Smithsonian with Trump putting out his concerns about various elements of what he defines as “woke,” from portraits of former National Institutes of Health Director Anthony Fauci to a painting of the Statue of Liberty as a migrant farm laborer holding a basket of tomatoes.
“As it increasingly prioritizes exhibits that undermine our values and rewrite the American story through a lens of grievance and exclusion, the Smithsonian’s embrace of woke ideology distorts history and erodes public trust,” Trump’s office wrote.
In a letter to Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, representatives for the administration advised him that an executive order, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, needs to be followed and why a comprehensive internal review of selected Smithsonian museums and exhibitions is underway.
“This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”
For Samuel J. Redman, professor of history and director of the Public History Program at the University of Massachusetts, though, there are legitimate concerns for how history is shared because of the actions coming from the White House.
“Telling the truth is fully under assault,” Redman said.
There are two conflicts resulting from this. First, the independence of local nonprofit organizations is more important than ever, whether it be David Ruggles Center for History and Education in Florence and Historic Deerfield, and leaning into stories that tell the whole of American history and challenges people’s understanding.
“That work becomes more important than ever when an executive is trying to control the narrative,” Redman said.
The second conflict is reorienting the grants to be celebratory and about American exceptionalism, narrowing the scope of grants that are already incredibly difficult to win.
The Amherst Historical Society issued a statement that it “fully supports the work of historians to explore and present our shared history in an honest and reflective manner. We will continue to do our part for the truthful presentation of those stories.” That statement was put out alongside one from the American Association for State and Local History, specific to the issues with the Smithsonian.
Another national organization, the American Alliance of Museums, issued its own statement to what it describes as the growing threats of censorship against U.S. museums. The AAM said that in recent months, museums have faced increasing external pressures to modify, remove, or limit exhibitions and programs. That risks narrowing the public’s window into evidence, ideas, and a range of perspectives.
“This is not just a concern for select institutions. These pressures can create a chilling effect across the entire museum sector,” the organization said. “Freedom of thought and expression are foundational American values, and museums uphold them by creating spaces where people can engage with history, science, art, and culture in ways that are honest, fact-based, and thought-provoking.
Liz Larson, executive director of the Amherst Historical Society, said the organization hasn’t been directly affected by the executive order, but has also not received federal funding from any grants that might be severed or clawed back.
“Because of this, we feel no pressure to censor our programming and in fact, are actively seeking ways to provide space and opportunities for continuing the truthful exploration of history,” Larson said.
While the organization doesn’t currently have an exhibit that might be constructed as problematic by federal officials, it is supportive of both the Ancestral Bridges museum, which aims to highlight the stories of the Black and Afro Indigenous people in Amherst, and the Civil War tablets display, where Black soldiers are celebrated, and also is willing to display a plate used in the Amherst College dining commons until the early 1970s depicting Lord Jeffery Amherst chasing and threatening harm to Native Americans and the French.
The museum last summer had Cambodians in Amherst displayed, which will be at Frost Library at Amherst College this fall.
But since it does receive funds from the state and the town there could be some trickle-down effects to Mass Cultural Council and Mass Humanities.
Historical Society President Gigi Barnhill said she is concerned that withdrawal of funding to support local organizations is an additional layer of censorship.
“What is chilling to me personally is any government body dictating to an independent historical organization what can or cannot be said in public programming,” Barnhill said.
But Barnhill notes Mass Humanities has continued to support programming around Frederick Douglass’s famous lecture “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” and Massachusetts Cultural Council is providing money for programming on topics that might be construed as problematic by agencies in Washington.
As an indication of the worry that is out there, Sanchez-Eppler said she joined with staff from the Concord Museum and King’s Chapel on the Freedom Trail, at an event run by the New England Museum Association designed to help other historic sites think about ways that they could include attention to enslavement in their programming around the country’s 250th anniversary.
Sanchez-Eppler said she got the sense that most people in the museum world, both in New England and across the country, are committed to “finding ways to continue to produce programming that emphasizes the deep diversity of American experience, that celebrates the beautiful and good, and that honestly acknowledges the inequalities and harms.”
Redman said he hopes that organizations can withstand threats from Washington, and that the federal meddling won’t have any direct or indirect impacts.
“We’re so fortunate in western Massachusetts with the current group of museum leaders we have,” Redman said. “The optimist in me hopes they’re successful, but the realist in me sees the chilling effect will be limiting in what they can apply for in terms of grants.”
And they may have to rely on other private funding if they want to explore questions of race, gender, labor and other difficult topics that Trump may want hidden.
“Supporting these institutions is more important than ever if we are to have a full, honest and complex narrative,” Redman said.