As the United States marks its quarter-millennium, the White House is questioning how the world’s largest museum complex depicts the nation’s founding, including exhibits describing the United States as being built on stolen Indigenous land.

A nearly 200-page report quietly published over the holiday weekend criticizes exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution for reinforcing narratives the U.S. government forcibly pushed Indians from their ancestral lands. The White House argued such interpretations place too much emphasis on racial injustice while downplaying the nation’s founding ideals and accomplishments.

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Dan Lewerenz, assistant professor of law at the University of North Dakota, said land dispossession and treaty violations are essential parts of the American story.

“I think it’s important to remember history accurately,” Lewerenz emphasized. “A part of that is remembering, for purposes of the Declaration of Independence, Indians were sort of used as a propaganda tool by the colonists.”

Lewerenz pointed out the United States has long used Indians to serve its interests and agendas. The report was issued as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to reshape how federally supported institutions present American history. Experts said it sets the stage for a heightened debate over how U.S. history is told and who gets to be included.

Although North Dakota’s history also includes a painful past for Native people, Lewerenz said the state has made strides in repairing past harms and improving relations with Native communities. He noted efforts such as the Government-to-Government conference and policies to improve tribal programs as signs of a growing partnership.

“Tribal sovereignty and the ability of tribes and tribal members to govern their own communities and live by their own ways has sometimes been respected and sometimes not,” Lewerenz observed. “But tribes have to remain hopeful.”

As part of the newly unveiled Theodore Roosevelt Library in Medora, a medicinal garden marks a renewed dedication to tribal partnership. Library trustees said the monument does not ignore Roosevelt’s racist views on Indigenous people but confronts history honestly with a call to honor and commit to a more vibrant future.