Radio Atlantic: "Black History Month Is Different This Year" (Feb 19, 2026)

Host: Hanna Rosin
Guests: Adam Harris (writer, podcast host), Clint Smith (staff writer, author of How the Word Is Passed)

Episode Overview

This episode examines how Black History Month is taking on new meaning amidst controversial efforts by the federal government to reshape historical memory—especially regarding Black history and the legacy of slavery in America. The conversation, with Atlantic writers Adam Harris and Clint Smith, probes how state power is being used to erase or whitewash difficult historical truths, why this moment is different from past cultural backlashes, and how the practice and meaning of Black History Month can—and should—evolve in this climate.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Trump Administration, Historical Memory, and Top-Down Whitewashing

• Antagonistic Approach to History

  • Smith calls the administration’s approach to Black history "antagonistic," noting attempts to distort or erase uncomfortable realities.

    “We are witnessing an administration working with an unsettling intensity to attempts to distort, erase, manipulate the history of this country and within that, manipulate the history of black Americans’ role, contributions and experiences in America."
    —Clint Smith (02:13)

• The Politics of Uplift and Shame (03:48)

  • Adam Harris explains Trump’s rhetoric about wanting "uplifting" monuments instead of those that cause shame, and how this is used to sidestep difficult aspects of America’s past.

    "If you do that and you sort of say this clean history of George Washington without the additional stories … it doesn't paint this sort of clean image of our leaders.”
    —Adam Harris (03:58)

• Erasing Complexity—Existential Anxiety for Americans

  • Clint Smith highlights the existential crisis at stake if Americans are asked to reckon with the messy realities of national icons and the country’s foundations:

    “When you untether them from that notion of reality that they've come to believe, it's incredibly jarring.”
    —Clint Smith (05:07)

Examples of Official Rollbacks on Black History

• Federal Edicts, Not Just Local Pushback (06:19)

  • Harris and Smith detail recent official actions:
    • Renaming Confederate memorials
    • Removing books from the US Naval Academy library
    • The Air Force reducing teaching about the Tuskegee Airmen
    • Dismantling of exhibits on slavery in national historic sites

• Unique Federal Antagonism (09:35)

  • Smith distinguishes this era from earlier ones, emphasizing that in previous cycles, Black Americans could appeal to the federal government for protection; now, the government itself is leading the rollback.

    "There is no federal government to appeal to. In fact, the federal government is the antagonist."
    —Clint Smith (09:35)

Rethinking Black History Month: A Personal and Communal Project

• Black History as Living, Family Memory (11:52–14:58)

  • Smith shares a moving story of taking his children to visit their grandmother's now-closed elementary school—a site of early school integration:

    "I want them both to understand that because of their proximity to it. But also in this specific moment, I think it’s a reminder that… within the sort of micro units of families and communities, we still have the power to share this history in ways that I think can be really meaningful"
    —Clint Smith (12:03)

  • Harris expands:

    "Frederick Douglass actually didn't have to write those things that he wrote. Our grandparents didn't have to send our moms and dads to the schools that they sent them to. A lot of people didn't…”
    —Adam Harris (14:11)

The Importance of Honest, Difficult History

• Why Hold Both Triumph and Tragedy Together? (15:22–16:50)

  • Smith explains that recognizing the dual realities of American history—progress for some, oppression for others—is not just truthful but also vital for personal and collective liberation:

    "America is a place that has provided unparalleled, unimaginable opportunities for millions...It has also done so at the direct expense of millions and millions of other people. And both of those things are the story of America."
    —Clint Smith (15:22)

  • On his own childhood, Smith articulates the power of historical truth:

    "When you learn that history, it is so profoundly freeing and so profoundly liberating, because this country can’t lie to you anymore."
    —Clint Smith (17:12)

Legal Pushbacks: The Philadelphia Exhibit Case

• Judicial Resistance (17:39)
  • Harris notes a recent judge's ruling to restore slavery panels at the President's House in Philadelphia, calling it a significant check on efforts to erase primary sources:

    "You cannot change the facts of the situation. You can only change how you remember those facts. And if you decide to publicly display those facts. And in a sense...what we have seen over the last year and change...is that effort to remove those public memories of the facts that happen in this country."
    —Adam Harris (18:03)

What Should Museums, Teachers, and Americans Do?

• Present the Full Picture, Don't Indoctrinate (19:56)
  • Smith:

    "I'm actually not interested in if you think Thomas Jefferson was evil or good. What I do want you to do is sit with the fact that he both wrote the Declaration of Independence, and he also wrote notes...that black people are inferior...and that he enslaved 600 people, including four of his own children. My role is not to tell you what to think, but what I do have to do is present the evidence."
    —Clint Smith (19:56)

The Jesse Jackson Legacy: History Is Close

• Bridging Generational Gaps (22:27–24:31)

  • Smith recounts explaining to his young daughter that Jesse Jackson was with Martin Luther King Jr. when he was assassinated:

    "For her, just to watch her little eyes be like, oh, there was a person who was alive until just now who was with Martin Luther King...What it did, I think, was...helped remind her that this history that many people say was a long time ago, just, in fact, wasn’t that long ago at all."
    —Clint Smith (22:40)

  • Host Hanna Rosin reflects on the resonance of Jackson’s “I Am Somebody” speech:

    "I realized it settled in my memory almost like a song, like a rhythm...I was really moved by it. Like, I actually listened to what he was saying. I think probably for the first time, you know.”
    —Hanna Rosin (23:50)

• Adam Harris:

  “This idea that history isn't so far away, that we are not living outside of history, that we really are living inside of history, and that his passing really signals that that truth continues...”
  —Adam Harris (24:31)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Federal Antagonism:

  "There is no federal government to appeal to. In fact, the federal government is the antagonist."
  —Clint Smith (09:35)

• On the Human Complexity of American History:

  "What I want you to do is to sit with the fact that he [Jefferson] wrote, you know, that all men are created equal and that he enslaved 600 people, including four of his own children."
  —Clint Smith (21:00)

• On the Power of Proximity to History:

  "Their grandmother was among the first wave of students to integrate a school in New Orleans... this is living history that individuals experience and continue to experience..."
  —Clint Smith / Adam Harris (12:03–14:11)

• On Why We Must Remember the Difficult Truths:

  "When you learn that history, it is so profoundly freeing and so profoundly liberating, because this country can't lie to you anymore."
  —Clint Smith (17:12)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• The Administration’s Historical Approach & Its Consequences — 02:04–06:04
• Specific Examples of Historical Erasure — 06:19–07:36
• Federal Versus State Backlash in Historical Context — 07:56–09:35
• Rethinking Black History Month on the Family Level — 11:52–14:58
• Why History’s Difficult Truths Must Be Faced — 15:22–17:39
• Judicial Pushback Against Whitewashing — 17:39–19:42
• Pedagogy, Museums, and Presenting Evidence — 19:56–22:27
• Jesse Jackson’s Passing, Generational Memory — 22:27–24:31

Episode Tone & Style

The conversation is deeply candid, urgent, and reflective. There’s an unmistakable undercurrent of both alarm and resolve: alarm at how top-down anti-history efforts threaten remembrance and identity, but resolve rooted in the power of personal memory, resistance, and honest storytelling—especially within families and communities.

Conclusion

In a year when Black History Month collides with federally sanctioned revisionism, the episode calls on listeners to practice a more active, local, and personal form of historical remembrance, to sit with complexity, and to resist the erasure of difficult truths about American history. Through stories, legal pushback, and pedagogical clarity, the guests urge collectively "unsticking" our understanding of history, and carrying honest narratives forward.