The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS ) has terminated two grants for Black history and culture that were awarded to the Whitney Plantation, a former plantation in Louisiana that focuses on the truths of slavery and the experiences of people who were enslaved. IMLS provides resources and support to libraries, archives and museums in all 50 states and territories.
The termination comes as the Trump administration has both gutted federal funding aimed at arts and cultural institutions and has pushed to end state and federal initiatives in support of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Recently, federal webpages that included references to thousands of figures, including Harriet Tubman, Indigenous codetalkers, the US army Maj Gen Charles Calvin Rogers, were either removed outright or scrubbed to exclude references to the aforementioned people. After public outcry, some of these pages were restored.
The Whitney Plantation already received one of the grants this year, but the other, which was to help fund an exhibit about how enslaved people resisted on plantations, was set to be completed in June this year. Without the funding, the Whitney stands to lose about $55,000. The exhibit on resistance to slavery, on which the museum had worked for three years, was due to open in January 2026.
The Whitney Plantation and its grant partners, the University of New Orleans and a research project called Freedom on the Move, have until 12 May to appeal the grant termination, according to an IMLS document obtained by Verite News.
In March, the IMLS itself was a target for Trump and the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), which has been responsible for numerous cuts to the federal government since it began operating in January. In a March executive order, Trump called for the IMLS to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law” within seven days of the order. Also in March, Doge put nearly all of the IMLS’s employees on administrative leave, rendering it difficult for the federal agency to fully function. As a result, library systems and museums across the country have reported concerns about receiving promised IMLS grants, while others, like the Whitney Plantation, have been notified that their grants are terminated.
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In a letter to grantees obtained by Verite News, Keith Sonderling, IMLS’s acting director and one of the remaining employees at the agency, wrote that the Whitney Plantation’s grant would be terminated in compliance with the March executive order that limited the functions of the IMLS and other agencies.
“Upon further review, IMLS has determined that your grant is unfortunately no longer consistent with the agency’s priorities and no longer serves the interest of the United States and the IMLS Program,” he wrote in a notice of grant termination. “IMLS is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda. Independently and secondly, the President’s March 14, 2025 executive order mandates that the IMLS eliminate all non-statutorily required activities and functions.”
When the Whitney Plantation opened in 2014 as a museum, it was the first plantation in the country dedicated to memorializing slavery and honoring enslaved people – most plantations in the United States, often used as sites for weddings or other lighthearted forms of tourism, instead erase the history of slavery. The Whitney is situated on a historical sugar, indigo and rice plantation, which was in operation for over two centuries, from 1752 until 1975. More than a dozen historical structures, many of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, are preserved at the museum.