Earl Walker Jackson is accusing the Smithsonian National Museum of American History of pushing anti-American indoctrination, and he is doing it from a deeply personal place. The bishop and author, whose great-grandparents were enslaved, says his own family history only strengthens his belief that the United States remains a country of opportunity, freedom and hope.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Jackson said recent criticism of the Smithsonian from the White House stirred his anger because of what he sees as repeated attacks on the country’s character. He said America is the “greatest nation on earth” and argued that people who reduce the nation to race, class and income miss the blessings it offers. Jackson said being born in the United States is like winning “the proverbial lottery” because it gives people more opportunity than those living anywhere else, in his view.
The remarks come as the Smithsonian National Museum of American History faces sharper public scrutiny over what the White House has called ideological capture. In July, the White House Domestic Policy Council released its 162-page “Saving America’s Story” report, which concluded that the museum had been taken over by a woke worldview. The report pointed to exhibits, placards, curators and museum leadership, and the release was followed by congressional hearings that added more pressure on museum officials.
NMAH Director Anthea Hartig, who has led the museum since 2019, came under particular attention after a resurfaced video showed her describing “history as a practice” as a “prime tool of social justice.” In a February 2025 presentation to University of California, Los Angeles students, Hartig said the country’s long and violent racial history remains part of the national reckoning. She also said redress through reparation should go beyond acknowledging wrongdoing and should help drive correction and restorative justice through history.
Jackson rejected that approach, saying history should present facts and allow the public to reach its own conclusions. He said Hartig’s framing turns history into a tool meant to shape how people think and feel, especially by encouraging bitterness and resentment toward the country. In his view, the problem is not limited to one museum but reflects a wider effort to train Americans to view their nation through grievance rather than gratitude.
