Historian accuses Smithsonian chief of pushing Marxist-inspired activist agenda

Jody Edward Ginn argues that Anthea Hartig, the director of the Smithsonian Institution, has consistently promoted an activist, Marxist-influenced perspective throughout her career. He references a 1995 research piece in which Hartig used Marxist analysis to critique the power structures behind California’s citrus farms, describing the work as more political than scholarly. Ginn highlights her one-year presidency of the Organization of American Historians, an organization known for advocacy, and her 2024 address titled “Where Have All the Women Gone?

Let’s Bring Them Back before It’s Too Late.” He also criticizes her July testimony before Congress, where she claimed the Smithsonian remains neutral, contrasting it with a resurfaced video where she called history a “tool of social justice.” Ginn concludes that Hartig’s record shows a pattern of activism over objective historical scholarship.