Historians across the country are denouncing the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia for renting its building to Moms for Liberty, a controversial “parents’ rights” organization that opponents say supports book bans and restrictions on teaching about race, gender and sexuality.
Tonight, the museum will host the sold-out Moms for Liberty Welcome Reception.”Joyful Warriors National Summit.” The four-day event, which will take place throughout Philadelphia, will feature speakers such as former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
In the weeks leading up to the summit, workers at the Museum of the American Revolution demanded that the institution cancel the planned event, despite its legal obligation to honor the lease agreement.
“We do not believe that a dollar amount would endanger the safety of museum staff members in the building on the day of the event, serving as host to a group that does not respect our values and harming the reputation of the museum that we have all worked so hard to build,” read the petition signed by 39 employees, according to the Philadelphia plaintiff.
At least seven professional groups of historians, including the National Council on Public History, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic and the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, have also urged the museum to reconsider its decision.
The Organization of American Historians (OAH), which bills itself as the nation’s largest professional organization of historians, has published a statement this week denouncing Moms for Liberty, calling it “a group that spouts dangerous racist, homophobic and transphobic lies.”
“It is an organization that actively works to ban books by and about LGBTQ+ people as well as people of color, and rejects the importance of inclusive history and historical scholarship in the teaching and understanding of American life,” the OAH statement continued.
The Professional Organization of LGBTQIA+ Historians expressed similar concerns about Moms for Liberty in a own statement earlier this month. “This organization consistently spreads harmful and hateful rhetoric about the LGBTQIA+ community, including popularizing the use of the term ‘groomer’ to refer to queer people and attacking the mere existence of trans youth,” the organization wrote. .
When contacted for comment, the museum, a private non-profit, said he plans to host tonight’s Moms for Liberty reception as planned.
“The Museum of the American Revolution strives to create an inclusive and accessible museum experience for visitors with a wide range of perspectives and beliefs,” a spokesperson for the institution said. “In keeping with this mission, we make available to groups who organize legally and safely, including federally recognized 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations.”
Founded in 2021 by former Florida school board members Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, Moms for Liberty has earned a reputation for its fight to lift pandemic restrictions in schools, including those requiring students to wear masks. and get vaccinated.
Since then, the group has opened hundreds of chapters across the country and has become a powerful force on the far-right side of the Republican Party. The Southern Poverty Law Center recently added Moms for Freedom to its list of “anti-government extremist organizations”.
In a letter to the Museum of the American RevolutionAmerican Historical Association (AHA) executive director James Grossman wrote that Moms for Liberty has “crossed a line in its attempts to silence and harass teachers, rather than participating in legitimate controversy”.
“For the AHA,” he continued, “it’s not about politics or different understandings of our nation’s past; it is an organization whose mission is to hinder the professional responsibilities of historians.
The Museum of the American Revolution is not the first such facility to be criticized for leasing space to divisive political groups. Just last month, the Natural History Museum in London came under fire for organize a conference set up by the populist organization National Conservatism. In 2019, after public outcry, the American Museum of Natural History abruptly canceled a private gala honoring Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro hosted by the US-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
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