Claudia M. Allen, an Andrews University alumna, returned to campus to serve as the keynote speaker for the John O. Waller Lectureship on the Arts on Oct. 21. Allen’s lecture title was “Notes of a Native Daughter: Preserving the Humanities in an Age of Erasure,” where she highlighted many of the threats humanities subjects like history and literature face under the influence of the current U.S. federal administration. Allen graduated from Andrews with a bachelor’s in English in 2013 and was the first Andrews student to graduate with a minor in leadership. She currently serves as the director of Advancement for Maryland Humanities, a nonprofit organization that provides funds and programming for various humanities-based educational opportunities statewide.
Allen started by making a connection to her lecture’s namesake, “Notes of a Native Son,” a book written by writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, where, despite his love for the U.S., he critiques it and personally connects with how its contemporary racial and cultural issues impacted him. Allen then spoke about writer Ralph Ellison’s novel “Invisible Man,” where he highlights the social invisibility that seems to hide Black people, their needs and harsh treatment from American society.
Allen went on to name other African American writers, like W.E.B. Du Bois and Phillis Wheatley, who made significant contributions to how society understands the social issues of their era through their literary works. The thesis of Allen’s presentation was to “discuss the relevance and the necessity of preserving the arts and humanities amidst a concerted effort to erase human expression.” She clarified that she deemed this effort to be from the current U.S. President, Donald Trump, and his administration.
“Presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama have stood in the now concrete Rose Garden, lifting words of support and celebration for the arts and humanities, underscoring their relevance, not just to culture, but to the preservation of democracy…” said Allen. “On October 1 of this year, President Trump did not stand in the Rose Garden to laud the importance of the arts and humanities. No, he fired 22 members of the National Council on the Humanities.”
The White House shared that Trump “is hoping to place members on the board who align more closely with his vision,” as reported by different news outlets and as stated by Allen. She also mentioned how the president appointed himself as the chair of the Kennedy Center board of trustees, is seeking to take action against the Smithsonian Institution and allowed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to fire over 140 employees of the National Endowment for the Humanities and terminate funding grants for humanities councils in all U.S. states and territories.
Allen designated these actions as not only a danger to those working in humanities like her, but also deeply harmful to the wider American society. “Rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame, disregarding the progress America has made and the ideals that continue to inspire millions around the globe.”
She further commented on the White House’s claims that “revisionist movements” have cast the nation’s “legacy of advancing liberty…as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive or otherwise irredeemably flawed,” through the removal of various statues or monuments. Allen argued, however, that many such statues of Confederate soldiers and leaders were used as “means of intimidation to keep Black people in their sociopolitical place” after the Civil War, asserting that it is really Trump’s government that is doing the revisionist history.
Allen went on to emphasize that the humanities were not simply just “art for art’s sake,” but an expression of those who feel unheard or unseen. The preservation of cultures and communities, a proponent of critical thinking and a way to further understand the human experience.
“From the moment God created the world using a speech, to the day and time that we stand and sit together now, the humanities have always been at the core of human creation,” Allen stated. She closed by highlighting more examples of great writers of color and by commenting on the US Army Choir’s decision to sing the protest anthem “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from the musical Les Misérables to the president during the Governor’s Ball, which Trump did not initially seem to realize was a potential snub. This further exemplified to Allen the need for literacy and humanities to be a focus in this nation.
After her lecture, Allen sat down with Katharine Van Arsdale, the associate director of the Center for Adventist Research (CAR), to answer audience questions and discuss how they will continue to work and advocate for the humanities in their fields. Van Arsdale spoke about the various initiatives CAR has done and continues to work on that aim at preserving Adventist historical documents, which allows the denomination to better understand the history of the church and its pioneers. Allen applauded CAR, which is housed in the James White Library and led by director Kevin Burton, for its work, and noted how Seventh-day Adventism is “one of the few denominations that [does not] have to apologize for slavery,” as it had supported abolitionist movements in the U.S. since its inception in the mid-nineteenth century. She also hopes that Adventism will become stronger with further access to CAR’s data and archives.
One striking question was asked about the difference between the Trump administration’s censorship and “the left” labeling some historical media, such as the written works of William Shakespeare, as problematic and protesting against such works through cancel culture. Allen responded by first noting that she had never heard of a previous US president instituting executive orders to limit the humanities as Trump has done. She stated that she takes particular issue with Trump’s intent to ban books and remove mentions of certain pieces of educational and historical information, which she views as an overreach of power.
“I have a greater concern and frustration when I see a presidential administration enacting overreach in such a way to remove books from Navy ships. To remove books from whole military academies, to remove certain exhibits and language of certain exhibits,” Allen shared. “We’ve not seen that kind of presidential overreach, and I think it’s important to name that, and to distinguish the difference between what society is doing as a whole on both sides of the party line, and then what we are seeing happening from a White House administration.”
Allen asserted that she does not like extremist censorship, regardless of whether it comes from liberal or conservative communities. She continued by using classic Disney films, many of which she described as “racist,” and Dr. Seuss books as examples of how canceling or censoring media or humanities work does not have to be the solution.
“So the stuff in the Disney vault is racist. That doesn’t mean that we eliminate the Disney vault. It means that we keep the Disney vault, speaking to the preservation of our histories, so that we can see this is what society thought at this time,” said Allen. “This is the language that was used at this time. We do not use this language now. We do not make these jokes now. This is extremely problematic now, but this is what was happening then.”
Another question was asked about making humanities degrees more attractive to students. Allen talked about her brother as an example of a person with a humanities degree who was able to use the skills and knowledge he learned to earn a very lucrative job in business as a human resources professional, an atypical role for a humanities graduate. Allen called for people to “reframe the image of who a humanities professional is” and broaden the scope of possible careers and work one can do with such a background.
A final question was asked about large quantities of information and resources being deleted from federal websites due to them being deemed “subversive or offensive,” and how such resources could be preserved to circumvent the censorship being done by the federal government. The government has purposefully targeted topics and items that can be tied to diversity, equity and inclusion. However, several questionable deletions of war heroes, military achievements and more have been items unceremoniously removed by the Pentagon at the direction of the White House. One notable example includes the deletion of all references to Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan in World War II, possibly indicating that such censorship is being done with broad brushstrokes and not enough attention to detail.
Van Arsdale replied, saying that various resources are available, with the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine being the premier one for finding webpages with information that are no longer available. Some webpages and information are coming back online, as the Trump administration has already lost lawsuits over deleted data that U.S. judges have mandated to be restored.
Allen left attendees with reasons to believe in the future of the humanities. It is clear, however, that partisanship poses a threat to various forms of contemporary and historical art and media.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.