Some artifacts and exhibits are being removed from the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

It comes a month after President Trump’s executive order to remove what he calls “improper ideology” from Smithsonian museums.

Tourists travel from across the country to see the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“Black history is also American history,” said visitor Teneka Williams from Suffolk, Va.

“I wanted to make sure that I got to go through the exhibit and see the things that my parents and other people sacrificed,” said visitor Sharon Small from Atlanta, Ga.

But some of the objects in the museum are being removed.

“I’m concerned about what might not be here in a few months,” Small said.

Civil rights activist and San Francisco Pastor Rev. Dr. Amos Brown received an email this month stating that his artifacts were being returned.

The Smithsonian told him, “Your books are delicate. Well, they know how to preserve things,” Brown said. “I did not get an email saying we are temporarily sending it back for repair, or we are going to repair. It was this general email saying we are sending back to you your book, your bible.”

Since 2016, the museum has had Brown’s bible from when he went to demonstrations with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson.

They also had his copy of “History of the Negro Race, 1618-1880.” It was the first comprehensive history of African Americans from slavery through Reconstruction.

“It is an assault on Black folks’ humanity, their ethnic and cultural identity, and is downright inhumane,” Brown said.

“It’s erasing or trying to hide past, a Black history. And I think it shouldn’t be hidden or erased. I think it needs to be highlighted,” Williams said.

The Smithsonian responded to DC News Now, stating,

“The Bible and book belong to Rev. Brown of San Francisco who generously loaned them to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for an exhibition. The loan agreement has expired and the items are being returned (in May) to the owner which is standard museum practice for any loan. The curator called and wrote to Rev. Brown.

None of these objects are leaving the Smithsonian.”

 What about NC sit-ins exhibit?

Woolworth Lunch Counter stools are exhibited at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 14, 2016. Opening to the public September 24, it will be a primary exhibition space for African American history and culture in the 400,000-square-foot building adjacent to the Washington Monument.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month putting Vice President JD Vance and an attorney in charge of finding and “removing improper ideology” from monuments, museums and the National Zoo overseen by the Department of Interior.

On Thursday, the news outlet BlackPressUSA published a report that an exhibit from a historic moment in the Civil Rights Movement, Greensboro’s F.W. Woolworth Company lunch counter, fell victim to Trump’s order.

BlackPressUSA stated that “Trump officials are sending back exhibit items to their rightful owners and dismantling them — starting with the 1960 Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in exhibit.”

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington has a section of the original lunch counter on display. The other section is housed in Greensboro at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington is home to two of the lunch counter’s stools.

Linda St. Thomas, chief spokeswoman for the Smithsonian Institution, told McClatchy in an email Friday that the lunch counter is not at risk.

“The Greensboro, NC, lunch counter is not leaving the Smithsonian,” St. Thomas wrote. “It is on display at the National Museum of American History where it has been for many years.”

The BlackPressUSA article specifically mentioned that the exhibit was leaving the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“The National Museum of African American History and Culture also has two stools from the original counter; one is on exhibit at all times, the other rotates in so that they can be properly preserved,” St. Thomas wrote. “Bottom line is that no artifacts have left either museum.”

Cynetra McMillian, public affairs specialist for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, told McClatchy Friday, “Since the opening, one stool has always been and continues to be on display.”

Late Friday, the news outlet updated its website and social media to say that the Smithsonian says the lunch counter exhibit will now remain at the museum.

Counter’s history

The lunch counter took its place in American history in 1960.

It was then that four Black students from N.C. A&T State University took seats at the counter in downtown Greensboro, despite the restaurant being segregated. When they were refused service, they wouldn’t get up. And they would come back daily until Woolworth changed its segregation policies.

Their decision helped launch the Civil Rights Movement across the South that led to the end of legal segregation.

Other museums across the country have portions of lunch counters from other sit-ins that were spurred by the Greensboro Four’s actions.

Other artifacts

BlackPressUSA’s article also reported that the museum was returning a Bible and one of the country’s first books on racism to the Rev. Amos Brown, a civil rights leader and pastor of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco.

“The Bible and book belong to Rev. Brown of San Francisco who generously loaned them to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for an exhibition,” St. James told McClatchy. “The loan agreement has expired and the items are being returned to the owner which is standard museum practice. The curator called and wrote to Rev. Brown.”

Jeffries wants Justice Roberts to reject Trump's executive order targeting Smithsonian

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wants Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to reject an executive order from President Donald Trump that seeks an end to the "influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology" at the Smithsonian. 

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wants Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to reject an executive order from President Donald Trump that seeks an end to the "influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology" at the Smithsonian.

Roberts sits on the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents and serves as chancellor of the Smithsonian. The next board meeting of the Smithsonian, which includes Vice President JD Vance, is scheduled for June 9.

"I write to express my strong opposition to President Trump's Proclamation issued on March 27, which preposterously purports to restore 'truth and sanity to American history' by censoring 'improper ideology' at the Smithsonian Institution," Jeffries, of California, wrote.

"It is imperative that you, along with your fellow Regents, continue the storied legacy of the Smithsonian that tells the American story honestly and completely. President Trump's proclamation, which seeks to whitewash our history, is cowardly and unpatriotic. It must fail."

The Smithsonian Institution includes 21 museums, 14 education and research centers and the National Zoo. The Smithsonian, founded in 1846, is the largest museum, education and research complex in the world, according to its website.

The Smithsonian contains an estimated 157 million objects, works of art and specimens in more than 2.7 million feet indoors in Washington. There are additional buildings in Maryland, New York and Virginia.

"The Smithsonian attracts tens of millions of visitors a year and works with the finest subject matter experts in virtually every field," Jeffries wrote. "The fact that the Proclamation prominently singles out the National Museum of African American History and Culture speaks volumes about Donald Trump's actual motivation. To be clear: Black history is American history. It cannot and will not be erased."

Trump also mentioned the forthcoming American Women's History Museum in his executive order as "celebrating the exploits of male athletes participating in women's sports."

The order directed Vance to work to eliminate those policies and "improper ideology" from the institution's facilities.

In recent years, the Smithsonian, according to the executive order, has "come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology" that has "promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive."

"History is replete with dangerous efforts to manipulate cultural and historical narratives in order to consolidate power, including during twentieth-century regimes like those in the Soviet Union and 1930s Germany," the top Democrat in the House wrote.

"That is not America. I strongly urge you to reject the Proclamation targeting the Smithsonian and to uphold the 175-year tradition that has made the Institution the preeminent museum, educational and cultural system in the world."

Trump has signed other executive orders to remove so-called liberal ideas and representations from federal government institutions.

In February, the president targeted the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He appointed himself as chairman, ousted the executive director and named several new board members.

On March 14, Trump signed an executive order late that calls for the elimination of the United States Agency for Global Media, which oversees the international state media network funded by the U.S. federal government. That includes the 83-year-old Voice of America.

Trump also has targeted for reduction the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is responsible for issuing grants to libraries and museums.