Submitted by Ronald Angelo Johnson
April 16, 2025
At a time when the Trump Administration is quickly altering public interpretations of history and removing references to the past on websites and public spaces, it is vital that historians keep track of what is changing. The Early Republic Tracker is dedicated to documenting instances where the federal government is removing facts and stories essential to the public’s understanding American history from public historical sites, museums, websites, and executive agencies.
Where/When did the changes take place?
- Around 15 April 2025, at U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Army Training and Doctrine Command, Army Special Operations Command, Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, and the Army War College
What changed?
- US Army libraries received a Defense Department memo ordering them to review [and very likely remove] books addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion, gender ideology, and critical race theory.
Why does the change matter?
- The order for Army libraries to review–and likely remove–books comes after the U.S. Naval Academy removed nearly 400 books over concerns from Administration officials (see Johann Neem’s Tracker post dated 9 April). Books bans at military installations have become part of a disturbing trend of banning books in America. The United States needs its military leadership–and citizens–to be fully informed about the nation’s rich, diverse, sometimes uncomfortable history. Lawyers fighting the book bans at military academies write, “Such censorship is especially dangerous in an educational setting, where critical inquiry, intellectual diversity, and exposure to a wide array of perspectives are necessary to educate future citizen-leaders.”
Website/location/document where change was made?
- US Military Academy at West Point, Army Training and Doctrine Command, Army Special Operations Command, Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, and the Army War College
Evidence of change?
- https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5366122/army-libraries-books-dei-gender-ideology
- https://kdhnews.com/news/ap/army-and-air-force-libraries-are-ordered-to-review-books-for-dei-material/article_85a61210-57b7-5fb4-b6dd-83ed14fa79c3.html
- https://www.whec.com/national-world/army-and-air-force-libraries-are-ordered-to-review-books-for-dei-material/
Additional sources?
