--- title: President Obama: Donald Trump Should Visit History Museum description: President Obama criticized Donald Trump and said he should visit the new African American history museum. canonical: https://time.com/4505653/president-obama-donald-trump-african-american-history-museum/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-23T14:09:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:47:27.122Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama: Donald Trump Should Visit History Museum og:description: "What we have to do is use our history to propel us to make even more progress" og:url: https://time.com/4505653/president-obama-donald-trump-african-american-history-museum/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt538355296995cd2d/6988a7460a4a22c9fd9cb63f/obama_national_endowment_arts_african_american_museum.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4017 og:image:height: 2260 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama: Donald Trump Should Visit History Museum twitter:description: "What we have to do is use our history to propel us to make even more progress" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt538355296995cd2d/6988a7460a4a22c9fd9cb63f/obama_national_endowment_arts_african_american_museum.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Wants Donald Trump to Visit New African American History Museum > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d1c659f9-846d-459d-8143-18ef45ea19ca&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 23, 2016 2:09 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sept. 22, 2016. President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sept. 22, 2016. Susan Walsh—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 23, 2016 2:09 PM UTC President Obama thinks Donald Trump could learn a thing or two from the [Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture](http://time.com/4487318/smithsonian-museum-african-american-history-culture/?iid=sr-link2) in Washington, D.C. “What we have to do is use our history to propel us to make even more progress in the future,” Obama said in an [ABC interview](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-walks-line-law-order-empathy-blacks-42300286) from the [new museum](http://time.com/4494067/artifacts-national-museum-african-american-history/), encouraging Trump to visit after it opens on Saturday. Obama also criticized Trump for saying that “African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape than they’ve ever been in before, ever, ever, ever.” “I think even most 8-year-olds would tell you that whole slavery thing wasn’t very good for black people. Jim Crow wasn’t very good for black people,” the President said. Trump has been making a controversial [pitch to black voters](http://time.com/4502754/donald-trump-black-church-voters-cleveland/?xid=tcoshare), and his comments this week came amid clashes between protesters and police after two shootings of black men in [Charlotte](http://time.com/4505325/charlotte-protests-keith-lamont-scott/?xid=homepage) and [Tulsa](http://time.com/4505101/terence-crutcher-tulsa-betty-shelby-manslaughter-charge/?xid=homepage). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4505653/president-obama-donald-trump-african-american-history-museum/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4505653/president-obama-donald-trump-african-american-history-museum/"},"headline":"President Obama Wants Donald Trump to Visit New African American History Museum","datePublished":"2016-09-23T14:09:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:47:27.122Z","description":"\"What we have to do is use our history to propel us to make even more progress\"","url":"https://time.com/4505653/president-obama-donald-trump-african-american-history-museum/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt538355296995cd2d/6988a7460a4a22c9fd9cb63f/obama_national_endowment_arts_african_american_museum.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt538355296995cd2d/6988a7460a4a22c9fd9cb63f/obama_national_endowment_arts_african_american_museum.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sept. 22, 2016.","creditText":"Susan Walsh—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4505653/president-obama-donald-trump-african-american-history-museum/","name":"President Obama Wants Donald Trump to Visit New African American History Museum"}}]}] ```