Black bishop and author Earl Walker Jackson, a descendant of enslaved ancestors, is criticizing the Smithsonian National Museum of American History for what he said amounts to anti-American "indoctrination" against the "greatest nation on earth."
Although his great-grandparents were enslaved, Jackson believes that "if you were born an American, you hit the proverbial lottery because you have more opportunity and hope than any people living anywhere else on the planet."
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Jackson said the latest controversy over what the White House described as the Smithsonian’s woke "ideological capture" angered him because of what he views as smears against the U.S.
"It makes me angry when people do this to our country, but it's sad too because what it tells me is that the indoctrination machine is hard at work convincing people [of] this narrative," he said. "This is a wonderful country; it's the greatest nation on earth. And you've got people so indoctrinated into seeing our country sliced and diced into race and ethnicity and class and income and so forth that they fail to understand the blessing of the United States of America."
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The Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH) has faced scrutiny over what the White House described as the museum’s promotion of woke ideology. In July, the White House Domestic Policy Council released its 162-page "Saving America's Story" report, concluding that the NMAH has undergone "ideological capture." The report included images of exhibits and placards and information about museum curators and leaders.
After the report was released, congressional hearings brought additional scrutiny to NMAH leadership. NMAH Director Anthea Hartig, who has led the museum since 2019, drew particular attention. A resurfaced video of a presentation by Hartig shows her calling "history as a practice" a "prime tool of social justice."
In a presentation to University of California, Los Angeles, students in February 2025, Hartig asserted that the "United States’ long and violent racial history continues to be present in our reckoning, if you will" and said that "redress in the form of reparation, of course, goes beyond acknowledgement of wrongdoing; it should leverage responsibility, it should think about the act of correction, as we pursue restorative justice and, for us [on the call], restorative justice through history."
In response, Jackson said, "She talks about how history should be a tool of social justice. No, history should be facts about what has happened in the past and leave others to draw their own conclusions about what those facts mean."
"But no, she wants to use history to try to get people to think a certain way and respond a certain way and, namely, to be somewhat angry and bitter and resentful of our country because of our past," he continued.
Though the White House report was released less than a month ago, Jackson said he has been warning for years about what he describes as woke ideology at the Smithsonian.
In 2015, he confronted the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery over the inclusion of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger in its exhibit on civil rights leaders. He took issue with Sanger’s inclusion because he said, "She was an elitist, she was a eugenicist, she was racist, she admired Adolf Hitler [and] she spoke for the Ku Klux Klan."
Jackson believes much of what he describes as ideological capture at the Smithsonian, as well as in the broader education system, entertainment industry, journalism and sports, stems from the influence of Howard Zinn’s book "A People's History of the United States."
Jackson said Howard Zinn "was a professed anarchist" who "wrote that book as a polemic against America."
He said he is "amazed at how few Americans understand that book has been more influential in teaching American history than any other book that the public schools or colleges have ever used," emphasizing, "And it's still being used."
As an example, Jackson pointed to materials currently promoted by the Zinn Education Project that draw a line between deportation operations today and Great Depression-era deportations, which the materials say derived from "a program of ‘racial expulsion,’ rooted in racism."
Fox News Digital reached out to Planned Parenthood, the Margaret Sanger Papers Project at New York University, the Zinn Education Project and the Zinn Trust for comment.
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"If you're learning that from the very beginning of your education, my goodness, by the time you're an adult and you've been through 20,000 hours of that, no wonder we've got people protesting outside of ICE facilities, and no wonder you've got people at the Smithsonian talking about America as if we're the worst place on earth to live," he said. "They frankly have been brainwashed and indoctrinated into it."
Jackson countered, "There is no place on earth that has been more affirming of human dignity, offered more opportunity for human flourishing. And frankly acknowledged in spite of the apparent differences that we have, that we are ultimately one nation under God."
"I think loving America is easy because, you’re right, I'm the great-grandson of slaves, I am a product of a broken home and foster care, and yet my life has just been wonderfully blessed," he concluded. "First, of course, by the grace of God, but also because I live in a country where anything is possible, where you're free, where you can dream, you can strive to fulfill your God-given gifts and talents and abilities."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery and NMAH for comment.
