Trump’s “Patriotic Education” Edict Causes Harm and Citizens Should Object

We cannot coverup history with an American flag

President Trump’s attempt to whitewash American history is déjà vu for Virginians. Shortly after taking office in 2022, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin tried to whitewash Virginia’s K-12 curriculum but Virginians rebelled and forced the Youngkin administration to give up its efforts to deprive school children of truthful history curricula. Now a similar battle is underway across the US as the Trump administration tries to control what can be taught in schools. But it is states that have the responsibility to set history standards, not the federal government.

The president has ordered any information that casts America’s founders and historical events in an unflattering or questionable light be removed or downplayed in history curricula under the guise of “Patriotic Education”. He wants only uplifting and positively portrayed parts of our history to be taught in schools. In this way the administration intends to force students and the public to “love America”. He finds it particularly objectionable to teach children about the periods of enslavement and segregation, thus Trump demands the removal of information on topics such as George Washington’s slaves, Thomas Jefferson’s fathering of six children with enslaved Sally Hemings, and the Tulsa Race massacre in 1921 that decimated the successful Black-owned Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Trump blames what he sees as a lack of patriotism on the public’s exposure to factual, but less than admirable, historical events. For example, Trump labelled the Pulitzer prizewinning 1619 Project as “inaccurate…toxic propaganda” because it revealed details about the slave trade and enslavement in our country. He claimed that the publication negatively influenced patriotism in the US. Also, he warned that protests over racial inequality were dangerous and threatened the foundations of our political system, despite the fact that the first amendment to the Constitution protects freedom of speech, the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 

In response to what he called “decades of left-wing indoctrination in our schools” Trump’s administration released the executive order “Ending radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling” and a supplemental priority that directed Department of Education (ED) Secretary Linda McMahon to develop programs on patriotic education and initiate federal funding for “civic education that teaches American history, values, and geography with [what she claimed was] an unbiased approach.”

The term “patriotic education” has become code for teachings that omit or downplay important parts of history, such as slavery, segregation and women’s rights. Since the publication of the 1619 Project, Trump has called teachings about racism “left wing indoctrination” and “child abuse”. Until recently history textbooks barely mentioned African American history which caused some teachers to rebel against that whitewashing of textbooks. Much to the credit of the 1619 Project, the truth about early African Americans became an integral part of K-12 curricula in many school systems. Trump is determined to change that, but now there is resistance to Trump’s order to end these lessons. 

Trump’s executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” calls for limiting what students may be taught. The Administration used misinformation to allege that learning about ‘White Privilege’ and ‘unconscious bias’ actually promote racial discrimination and “undermine national unity.” Already some states are following the executive order. For example, in Florida new history standards contain blatant misinformation and offer that slavery should be portrayed positively because it provided education and trades to the enslaved and gave them homes, food, and equal rights. This language is no different than much of the pro-slavery framing in 19th century U.S. that argued for the "essential" nature of enslavement. 

The executive order also prohibits federal funding for exhibits or programs that, according to Trump, “divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.” Multiple exhibits and artifacts were removed from the Smithsonian Institution and National Parks and even from an exhibit about George Washington’s slaves at Philadelphia’s Independence Mall. Philadelphia pushed back with a successful suit against the Trump administration that called for restoration of the exhibit, but the Trump administration is appealing that ruling.

The president has threatened to cut off funding from schools that continue to teach what he considers propaganda, such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or critical Race Theory (CRT). However, in 2025, court rulings blocked some schools from enforcing the ‘CRT’ ban. On the other hand, suits have been filed against schools for teaching ‘CRT. ‘ The outcome of these competing rulings and the future of African American history in K-12 is yet to be determined. Meanwhile, the Administration has abandoned its appeal of a court order blocking Anti-DEI Guidance that had required colleges to either eradicate all race-based curriculum, financial aid, and student services, or lose federal funding. 

Virginians have a long history of objecting to attempts to whitewash history. In this former seat of the Confederacy, monuments to the Lost Cause are being removed and streets, schools, and districts have been renamed to celebrate black history and historical figures. Virginians have thwarted attempts by the former Youngkin Administration to replace accurate history with revisionist propaganda in public school curricula with calls to action and public pushback, After years of political drama over attempts to whitewash Virginia’s history, truthful history Standards of Learning were finally approved by the Virginia Board of Education in 2023. Virginians remain vigilant as the Trump administration threatens schools with loss of federal funding if they teach what the administration calls “discriminatory equity ideologies”. 

Can Virginia serve as a model for how states can reject Trump’s attempt to whitewash History? Virginians found that it takes vigorous and sustained public input to protect truthful accounts of history. Citizens of other states have a choice: they can agree to the whitewashing of History standards as Florididians did, or insist on truthful history education in their schools, as Virginians continue to do.