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Congress and White House press Smithsonian on exhibit choices as culture debate reaches federal stage

8/2/2026

A political contest over how the Smithsonian Institution presents American history reached the congressional record on July 22, when Museum Director Anthea Hartig testified before lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Brandon Gill led the hearings, examining exhibit content at the American History Museum on the National Mall, the Smithsonian's flagship venue and one that draws between 2 million and 4 million visitors each year.

The exhibit at the center of the hearings The American History Museum's Entertainment Nation exhibit includes a display asserting that the cartoon character Mickey Mouse was partly inspired by blackface minstrelsy, a form of entertainment historically associated with the demeaning of African Americans.

Hartig told Congress that the museum does not regard Mickey as a racist symbol. Historian Arthur Herman, writing in commentary on the hearings, argues the exhibit's framing makes that position difficult to sustain.