Saxophonist and vocalist Louis Jordan was born on July 8, 1908 in Brinkley, Arkansas. Jordan relocated to Philadelphia in the early 1930s. While living here, he joined the Charlie Gaines band. In 1936, Jordan moved to New York City where he played saxophone in Chick Webb’s orchestra for two years.
He formed his own band, Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, in 1938. Jordan wrote and recorded “Caldonia” in 1945. The rest is history. “Caldonia” was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2013.
Jordan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. On the centennial of his birth, the U.S. Postage Service issued a stamp memorializing “the King of the Jukebox.”
An iconic photo of Jordan is in the Duncan P. Schiedt Photograph Collection of the National Museum of American History.
NMAH is in the crosshairs of the Trump administration. Jordan was on my mind as I read the 162-page report, “Saving America’s Story,” that the White House Domestic Policy Council released on the Fourth of July.
When it comes to American history, ain’t nobody at the White House but some chickens. President Trump and his sycophants are too chicken to accept the full story of the nation’s complex history.
The propagandists accuse NMAH of “ideological capture” and an “anti-white agenda”:
This anti-white agenda also helps explain why NMAH seeks to erase Christopher Columbus, the Founding Fathers, and the Pilgrims from American history. Portraying such history and historical figures at all, no matter how pivotal, let alone accurately, would be, in the eyes of NMAH, to perpetuate the oppressive “white supremacy culture” that the Smithsonian and broader museum profession is currently working so hard to undo.
In an email to staff, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III disputed the report’s characterization:
While there will always be room for improvement, this report is not a fair characterization of the work and totality of the National Museum of American History. At the Smithsonian, our work is driven by scholarship, accuracy, and an uncompromising commitment to tell the fullness of America’s story. As public servants and the keepers of this institution, we are charged with helping a nation find understanding, hope, and clarity and as part of that duty, we are dedicated to excellence, reflection, and growth.
We remain focused on what grounds us: a steadfast commitment to scholarship, nonpartisanship, independence, accuracy, and integrity. For nearly 180 years, the Smithsonian has worked alongside partners across government—from the White House to Congress to our governing Board of Regents—guided by our enduring mission to increase and diffuse knowledge. That purpose remains: to pursue knowledge with rigor and to serve the American public with clarity and care.
The Organization of American Historians released a blistering statement:
“Saving America’s Story” is part of a broad attempt to return the nation to a vision of America that never actually existed and that serves the ends of superficial patriotism. The White House seeks to impose a narrow, singular, and celebratory narrative of American greatness populated by a mythologized set of heroes. Crucially, the proposed narrative would erase the conflict, struggle, and diversity—the complexity—that have always defined the American experience. The report insists that history itself is essentially, for Americans, a special and providential story of triumph.
Make no mistake: the report represents an attempt to turn back the clock to a time when U.S. history was taught as the history of white Christian men who conquered a continent, U.S. military leaders who rarely lost a battle, and U.S. presidents who were single-handedly responsible for national greatness, all under the cover of “anti-DEI” and “anti-woke” crusading.
If the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History adopts the approaches recommended in the new report, the majority of Americans, including women, workers, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people and more, will not see themselves represented. America’s rich and diverse history will be reduced to shallow and simple-minded stories and tropes. Reports of this ilk reveal less about the museums they target than about the anxieties of their authors. They reveal the White House’s fear that an accurate and complete telling of American history that includes hard lessons alongside proud ones will somehow puncture a nostalgic and fragile self-image of American exceptionalism. The report’s complaints that National Museum of American History exhibits are insufficiently celebratory are a demand for history according to a single political party’s line; pretending to call the report a defense of accuracy or a restoration of narrative balance is both disingenuous and dangerous for American democracy.
The report is available here.
