Ghana president criticizes US over history ‘erasure’

American schools are being required to stop teaching students about slavery, segregation, and racism in history courses, John Mahama has said

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has accused the US of “normalizing the erasure” of black history through measures including banning books and restricting museum and cultural content.

The West African country’s leader made the remarks in a speech at a high-level event on reparatory justice in New York on Tuesday, as he pressed for global support at the UN to recognize the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity and advance reparations.

“In the United States… schools are being mandated to stop teaching students about slavery, segregation, and racism in American history courses,” Mahama stated.

He said museums, art centers and other institutions that “rely in any way on public funds” are being barred from hosting exhibitions or programs or displaying materials on racial awareness.

“Much like the law that was put in place to regulate the punishment of the enslaved in Barbados, these policies are becoming a template for other governments... They are slowly normalizing the erasure that is taking place,” he warned.

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Mahama is leading a push on behalf of the African Union and Caribbean nations for a UN resolution to formally recognize slavery and the transatlantic slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity” and to initiate a process toward reparatory justice.

US President Donald Trump has targeted cultural and historical institutions since returning to office in January 2025. He has ordered federal agencies to remove “divisive” or “improper” ideology from historical narratives, including content his administration says portrays the US in a negative way.

In a separate speech at a wreath-laying ceremony at the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan, Mahama said most enslaved Africans likely passed through or came from Ghana, which has more slave forts and castles than any other country on the continent.

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He described slavery as a brutality “written in the bones” of those buried there – nearly 20,000 Africans – and called for remembrance as a collective responsibility.

Lincoln University had planned to confer an honorary doctorate on Mahama on Thursday in recognition of his “outstanding contributions,” including to global advocacy for justice and equality. The university, however, canceled the plans at the last minute, citing unforeseen circumstances. Local media reported the decision followed concerns over Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ legislation.