The Transatlantic Slave Trade is not just Black history—it is American history, and Black Americans lived it. Their ancestors were violently torn from their homes, forced into brutal labor, and stripped of basic humanity. That legacy of injustice echoes loudly in every aspect of our society—because the slave trade wasn’t just cruel, it was foundational.

Yet today, that truth itself is under attack. President Donald Trump denounced the Smithsonian Institution as allegedly “out of control” for telling the unvarnished history of slavery—claiming museums focus too much on how bad slavery was and not enough on “brightness” or success, even as his administration reviews exhibits and threatens funding cuts to sanitize the narrative. He dismissed honest reflection as “woke,” arguing it undermines

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