As the Trump Administration Erases Black History, These Writers Are Keeping It Alive
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7 • 8.7K Ratings
🗓️ 21 February 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One of the unmistakable throughlines of the second Trump administration is how it’s overhauling policies that directly affect African Americans, most notably by targeting programs and initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI.
For journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, it’s an attempt to take the country back to an era before the civil rights movement. “A lot of folks are saying, you know, that this administration is rolling back the ’60s, but I’m like, he—this administration’s actually going back further than that.”
The administration is also removing references to Black history from the nation’s museums, parks, and schools. When history itself is being erased at the highest levels, who’s left to tell us where we’ve been and where we’re headed?
This week on Reveal, as part of Black History Month, we’re bringing you conversations from our sister podcast, More To The Story, with three prominent Black writers who are fighting to tell a more inclusive American story.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, this is Reveal. |
| 0:06.0 | I'm Outlet's every February for over 40 years now. |
| 0:10.0 | I've been a part of Black History celebrations, whether it was a play in middle school, |
| 0:16.0 | reciting the I Have a Dream speech in high school, performing on stage as a young man, or making radio shows like this one. |
| 0:23.6 | And in all that time, I never really reflected on the importance of the month. |
| 0:28.1 | I mean, I'm Black year round. |
| 0:30.1 | We just put a spotlight on Black Americans in February. |
| 0:33.7 | But this year, it seems especially important the highlight and remember black history because |
| 0:40.3 | all around us, the nation's past is being rewritten. |
| 0:44.3 | This week, President Donald Trump indicated he plans to review the content of Smithsonian Museums, |
| 0:50.3 | claiming they focus too much much... |
| 0:52.3 | ...righted history is growing. |
| 0:54.6 | The Trump administration has ordered the removal of signs. |
| 0:57.4 | The state of Philadelphia history was removed this afternoon by the federal government. |
| 1:02.0 | Cruz dismantled plaques telling the stories of the nine enslaved people who lived in the president's house. |
| 1:08.0 | The Trump administration prefers a more sanitized version of American |
| 1:12.0 | history that minimizes the black struggle and the impact African Americans have had on this |
| 1:17.7 | country, a whitewashing of the truth. The historians, journalists, and activists who fight to tell |
| 1:24.1 | a more inclusive story face an uphill battle against what is arguably the |
| 1:29.4 | most powerful bully pulpit in the world. Over the last year, I've had several conversations |
| 1:35.3 | with black journalists about these issues as a part of More to the Story, our interview |
| 1:40.2 | show that drops every Wednesday, and we've collected a few of them for a Black History |
... |
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