In the leadup to the semiquincentennial, President Donald Trump has waged a war on topics he deems “divisive,” from DEI to critical race theory. As a reporter and fact-checker, I’ve examined this attack on our history closely. I’ve interviewed historians about how our past shapes our current moment, observed the spectacles put on by administration, and chronicled an organization’s fight to preserve local historic memorials.

Through this work I’ve realized how much my own personal relationship to patriotism and history has evolved. As a kid in school, learning about the disproportionate amount of violence marginalized people faced throughout history made me pessimistic about the future. It was bizarre to read textbooks that minimized and dehumanized those moments of oppression along with the moments of achievement by anyone who wasn’t a white man. In American history marginalized people’s stories are often asides or relegated to stereotypes— if mentioned at all. Over time I became almost desensitized by the erasure as a way to focus on the ever-changing present moment.

In September, I spoke to former Alabama poet laureate Ashley M. Jones about her book, Lullaby for the Grieving, where she described “political grief”—the feeling of “being in a place which never wanted you to be human and reminds you every day that it still doesn’t consider you a human.” I realized that my political grief created a skepticism about how American history is told and those who chose to celebrate it at all.

Though I was skeptical, speaking with historians, nonprofit organizers, and protestors about America’s 250th birthday has made it clear to me that “celebrating” American history doesn’t have to mean ignoring historical moments that the Trump administration says “undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by........

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