In a quiet corner of the National Museum of American History, behind glass and soft lighting, sits a set of yellowed, carved teeth. They are labeled as George Washington's dentures—a curious artifact of America's first president. But a growing chorus of historians, activists, and even some Smithsonian insiders say this exhibit isn't just incomplete. It's a sanitized fairy tale that hides a darker truth about slavery, power, and who gets to write history.
The controversy erupted last month when a leaked internal memo from a Smithsonian curator suggested that the exhibit's framing "avoids the discomfort of enslaved labor." The memo, obtained by a watchdog group, pointed out that Washington's famous wooden teeth were actually a myth—his dentures were made from human teeth, likely purchased from enslaved people. Some were even pulled from the mouths of his own slaves, according to plantation records.
The Smithsonian's official placard mentions "human teeth" but doesn't specify whose. It says Washington "struggled with dental pain" and "tried various materials." Nowhere does it mention that in 1784, he paid 122 shillings to an unknown source for nine teeth—a transaction recorded in his ledger. Historians have long suspected those teeth came from enslaved individuals at Mount Vernon, who were often forced to sell their teeth for meager sums or as part of "dental experiments."
Why does this matter? Because the Smithsonian isn't just any museum. It's the nation's attic, the keeper of American memory. When it softens the edges of slavery, it isn't just being polite. It's perpetuating a lie that millions of tourists absorb every year. The exhibit, titled "The Price of Liberty," ironically avoids the actual price paid by Black bodies.
Critics argue this is part of a broader pattern. In 2019, the Smithsonian faced backlash for a similar issue with an exhibit on Thomas Jefferson, which downplayed his relationship with Sally Hemings. The pattern is clear: the Founding Fathers are presented as flawed but noble, while the people they owned remain footnotes.
The museum's defenders say the exhibit is just one piece of a larger story, and that other displays at the National Museum of African American History and Culture provide context. But that's like saying a crime scene can be understood by looking at a different building across town. Visitors to the Washington exhibit don't get that context. They see a hero with a toothache.
What's really going on here? It's a battle over narrative. The Smithsonian is funded by Congress, and its board includes political appointees. In recent years, conservative lawmakers have attacked the museum for being "too woke." The result is a kind of self-censorship—a fear of telling the full truth about America's founding. The teeth are a metaphor: they were pulled from the mouths of the powerless to serve the powerful, and now they're displayed in a way that hides the extraction.
Some historians are calling for the exhibit to be redesigned. They want the names of the enslaved people whose teeth were used—if they can be identified—and a clear statement about the violence of slavery. They want the Smithsonian to stop treating Black history as a separate wing and instead integrate it into every exhibit. Because slavery wasn't a side note to the American Revolution. It was the engine.
The Smithsonian has responded with a statement saying it is "reviewing the exhibit's language" and "committed to telling a more complete story." But activists say that's just PR. The real test is whether the museum will be brave enough to tell the truth when it's uncomfortable. Because if the Smithsonian can't tell the truth about George Washington's teeth, what else is it hiding?
**Opinion:** The Smithsonian's job isn't to make Americans feel good about their past. It's to help them understand it. When a museum softens the story of slavery to protect a hero's legacy, it becomes a propaganda arm, not an educational one. Washington's teeth aren't just a curiosity—they're evidence of a crime. It's time to treat them that way.