US President Donald Trump has once again criticised the Smithsonian Institution for focusing too much on “how bad slavery was”.
“The Smithsonian is out of control, where everything discussed is how horrible our country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been…” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
His post came a week after White House officials told the Smithsonian it would soon face “a comprehensive internal review” of its museums.
Trump said he has instructed his lawyers to “go through” what he described as “woke” content at Smithsonian museums, vowing to begin “the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made.”
The Smithsonian, founded by Congress in 1846, now oversees 21 museums. Its funding is largely provided by the federal government.
The Institution has been a repeated target of Trump’s wrath for highlighting the “negative aspects” of US history, such as the trans-Atlantic trade of African slaves.
European traders transported approximately 12.5 million and 15 million African men, women and children across the Atlantic between the 16-19 centuries. Generations endured systemic oppression while contributing heavily to the labour-intensive US economy of the time.
Scholars and historians, however, remain unequivocal in acknowledging the horrors of slavery: The trans-Atlantic slave trade was “one of the worst crimes against humanity” in recorded history.
Here are five facts that illustrate the scale of the suffering, loss of life, and systemic dehumanisation for generations.
Forced migration, mass death
The trans-Atlantic slave trade forcibly displaced millions of Africans for over 400 years, making it one of the largest coerced migrations in human history.
According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade database, at least 12.5 million Africans were loaded onto ships, with about 10 million surviving the forced migration to the Americas.
The one-way journey was deadly, with an estimated 1.8 million deaths due to disease, malnutrition, and inhumane conditions aboard slave ships.
For example, the Zong massacre of 1781 saw over 130 enslaved Africans thrown overboard by a British crew to claim insurance money.
Conditions on slave ships were horrific: people were chained together in cramped, unsanitary holds, often unable to sit upright, with minimal food and water.
Historian Marcus Rediker describes the Middle Passage – another name for the forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean – as a “floating dungeon”, rife with smallpox and other diseases.
Systemic violence
The trans-Atlantic slave trade was marked by violence, from capture in Africa to sales in the Americas.
Enslaved Africans faced whippings, branding, and mutilation. The Code Noir, a 1685 French legal document, permitted severe punishments, including amputation for runaways, while British and Spanish colonies similarly sanctioned brutal discipline.
Lynching, though more associated with the post-slavery era, had roots in the slave trade period, with public executions terrorising and suppressing any signs of resistance.
For instance, after the 1739 Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, where enslaved Africans rose up against their captors, at least 20 rebels were executed, their heads displayed on pikes to deter future uprisings.