WASHINGTON - Senior activist of the Civil Rights Movement said the Smithsonian agency informed him that items he lends to the National Museum of African American History and Culture could return, in a potential review of the museum’s collection ordered by President Donald Trump.

Rev. Amos C. Brown, pastor of the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, borrowed two books from the Smithsonians, which have been displayed since the museum opened. One of his projects was the “Afro-American Race History” version of George Washington Williams, written in 1880, and was one of the earliest books to record black American history and racism, and the other was the Bible held during the protests with Martin Luther King Jr. Jr.

The reasons for the return of these items initially raised an alarm that the Trump administration has begun to make obvious changes to the crown museums considered black American culture.

The Smithsonian said it was wrong to report that the museum had deleted exhibitions that documented the civil rights struggle. The White House has no comment on the story.

But the threat of change to African-American museums has prompted strong responses from Democratic lawmakers, historians, civil rights leaders and education advocates, many of whom plan to hold support for the U.S. Capital Museum on Saturday.

Brown, who listed former Vice President Kamala Harris as his parishioner, received an email from a Smithsonian official last month telling him that his belongings would be concerned about preservation caused by the museum's lighting. Brown told the Associated Press that he found "a fragile excuse for museums."

Brown said another Smithsonian official reached out to him after the first email to him, regretting the original reasoning. Instead, according to Brown, the official said the Smithsonian archivist would be delayed to “a group that will rethink whether my artifacts should be there.” He said he was told it would be for a wide range of historical relics.

Smithsonian officials did not answer questions about whether such a group had been formed.

After the interaction, Brown said a Smithsonian official later contacted him and arranged a video conference on Friday afternoon. He said he didn't get a name for who joined the phone, but was told that it would include Smithsonian senior leaders.

The Smithsonians “usually return leased artifacts under applicable loan agreements and rotate objects under Smithsonian’s high standards of care and preservation and as part of our regular museum turnover,” the agency sent to the Associated Press.

"Recently, reasons other than compliance with standard loan agreements or museum practices are wrong," the statement said.

The language of Trump's executive order triggers alarm

Concerns about potential reforms for the Smithsonians have emerged since Trump signed the March 27 executive order, titled “Restore the Truth and Sense of American History.” The order argues that Smithsonians have been “influenced by split, race-centric ideology” in recent years, and says the agency “promotes narratives that inherently harm and oppressively embodied American and Western values.”

The order designated vice president JD Vance and Lindsey Halligan as senior White House aides, “delete the “delete improper ideology” of Smithsonian Properties, which includes 21 museums and the National Zoo. The Smithsonian covers the Education, Research and Archives Centers designed to increase and disseminate knowledge. It manages more than 150 million artifacts.

The order, which cites several national parks and the Smithsonian Museum, displays potentially offensive content, including the African American Museum.

The Smithsonians are chaired by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, and include members of Congress for all parties, major business executives and philanthropists. The next meeting of the board is scheduled to take place on June 9.

Legislators, scholars and activists fear that the order will eventually affect the Smithsonians’ removal of artifacts, display or research, which does not fit in with the Trump administration’s understanding of history.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote to Roberts to warn that the order “seeks to paint our history” and “cowardly and unpatriotic.” He will compare the declaration with efforts in “twentieth century regimes like the Soviet Union and Germany in the 1930s.”

“If the United States does not rule out African-Americans and distort our image, we don’t need an exhibition of African-Americans,” said Rep. Jonathan Jackson, who has documented it in multiple Smithsonian museums and said they have not received notice of changes to these exhibits.

"So that makes American history complete and I think (Trump) should visit it before he tries to delete, delete and distort that tradition," said the Illinois Democrat, who visited the African American Museum in 2017. After the tour, he wrote on social media that the museum was “completed by amazing people!”

The protests come after weeks of doubt about the Smithsonians

Civil rights leaders organized after Trump’s orders. On Monday, a coalition of more than thirty groups launched a “learning freedom” campaign, which included a May 3 rally and a parade at the Smithsonian African American Museum.

Among the cooperative organizations are NAACP, the National Urban Alliance, the National Alliance for Black Citizens Engagement, the Black Voters Important, the Black Living Movement, the National Council for Black Women and the Leadership Civil Rights Alliance.

It was mainly the move of the black church to support the museum and carry out protests and call for more support for the museum after potential changes.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture was opened to the public in 2016. It contains more than 40,000 artifacts and records over 400 years of African-American history. The museum’s exhibitions cover the daily life and culture of African Americans, as well as the contributions of community to the wider American culture, business, sports, religion and politics, as well as the impact of slavery, segregation and discrimination on the national history.

Brown, 84, said he had previously established "positive relationships" with the Smithsonians because of items he donated to the museum. As a youth activist for the civil rights movement, Brown organized with idols such as King, activist Medgar Evers and Congressman John Lewis. He criticized the institution for “confidential” changes regarding African-American museums.

"Behavior." Let's be kind and just. If we don't do that, Dr. King is right - Martin is right - if we don't learn to live together, brothers and sisters, we will all perish like fools. ”

___