The reality of slavery: Rebutting Trump’s claims – The Hill
Opinion>Civil Rights
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill. No, our museums cannot just ‘move on’ from slavery — Christmas shows us why
by Robert E. May, opinion contributor – 09/03/25 2:00 PM ET
I was not surprised by President Trump’s Truth Social post that the Smithsonian and other American museums are
excessively focused on “how bad slavery was.” Trump’s post is consistent with MAGA’s triumphalist insistence on eviscerating critical analyses of America’s problematic race relations and history from the nation’s schools, cultural institutions and mass media.
Without endorsing racial bondage, his call encourages MAGA’s white supremacist elements and discourages efforts to address racial disparities relating to slavery’s long-term constraints on Black progress.
As someone who has long studied, taught and written about the American South and slavery, I am appalled. Trump’s position trivializes the injustices and horrors of enslavement, implying they barely merit mention within America’s historical narrative.
I propose, counterintuitively, to rebut Trump’s messaging by looking microscopically at the moment in the plantation calendar when slaves supposedly were treated best. By illuminating how horrific racial bondage was even when legend says enslavers were at their most humane, we can grasp the ahistorical absurdity of Trump’s position that museums move on.
That time was Christmas. There is a near-consensus that slaves were happiest, if you can say such a thing, over the holiday. Supposedly, starting Christmas Eve, slaves not only were excused from working for up to a week, but masters put whips aside, gave them amazingly generous presents, threw them sumptuous feasts and dances, and allowed them to marry and travel anywhere nearby they wanted.
The trouble is this stereotype derives largely from memoirs of post-Civil War “Lost Cause” southern writers who reimagined slave holidays to justify southern secession and the Confederacy. Such writings overlooked the vast profits accruing to slaveholders from coerced labor and sometimes claimed that slaves had it better than masters and lacked interest in freedom.
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