A historian and podcast host criticized the White House website Freedom 250 over its AI-generated images and historically inaccurate depictions of women involved in the American Revolution, garnering more than 1.1 million impressions on Instagram.
Isabelle Lahoul, host of the women’s history podcast Broad History, posted a video condemning the images in the Women of the Revolution section of the Freedom 250 site, which she said included images presented as Abigail Adams and Dolley Madison.
The White House’s 250-page Freedom Statement describes the initiative as part of strengthening the nation through July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The White House created Freedom 250 as a public-private partnership, and the broader Task Force 250 effort will include a year of events through the end of 2026, the site said. Freedom 250’s pages also include sections on the history of the Revolutionary War, agency planning, major events, and “Ladies of the Revolution.”
“That’s not Abigail Adams,” LaHol said in the video, comparing images on the White House site with known portraits of Adams.
Military.com asked the White House and Freedom 250 whether the images in the Women of the Revolution section were generated or altered by artificial intelligence, what review process was used to verify historical accuracy, and whether the images would be updated, corrected or removed. No one provided a response on the record prior to publication.
The video was reviewed by Military.com before Lahoul’s Instagram account was made private. Military.com reached out to Roughol, who also did not respond prior to publication.
Military.com could not independently confirm whether the images criticized by LaHol were generated by artificial intelligence. The Freedom 250 page does not appear to label the images as AI-generated in the section that Lahoul criticized.
“False alarm machine”
Lahoul, a journalist and public historian, argued that these images show why artificial intelligence can be problematic when used in public history, especially in national commemorations aimed at teaching Americans about figures important to the founding of the country and America’s independence.
“The semi-quincentenary White House website called Freedom 250 is a textbook example of why we don’t use AI illustrations when doing public history,” she said, adding that it is a “misinformation machine.”
Lahoul’s video focused on the use of imagery to represent women whose lives are already often compressed or misremembered in popular Revolutionary War history.
Abigail Adams is one of the most well-known women of the Founding Era, in part because of the letters she wrote to John Adams during the Revolution. Her March 1776 appeal, “Do not forget women,” became one of the period’s most cited claims for legal and political consideration for women, even though women remained excluded from formal political power.
Lahoul also criticized the site’s use of an image to represent Dolley Madison. Madison later became first lady during the presidency of James Madison, and is most commonly associated with the early 19th century and the War of 1812. Born in 1768, she was eight years old when the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776.
“This way we can say that she’s not Dolley Madison either,” Lahoul said in the video. “Dolly was 8 years old at the time of the Declaration of Independence.”
LaHol also criticized the site’s depiction of former slave poet Phillis Wheatley, the first black woman to publish a book in her 1773 book.
In the video, Lahoul argued that the image’s wealthy style, including silk clothes and pearl earrings, ignored the difficulties Wheatley faced after his release. Wheatley’s planned second volume of poems was never published, and her accounts of her later years include financial struggles up until her death in 1784.
Get ready for 250
The criticism comes as commemorative efforts by federal, state and local governments accelerate ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Museums, historic sites, government agencies, and communities prepare programs related to the Revolution, military history, and founding documents.
The scrutiny also points to broader concerns about public history projects related to America 250. Official memorial sites often serve as educational tools for students, families, veterans, and military personnel seeking reliable historical context.
If questionable visuals are used on official pages, mistakes can spread quickly, especially for people whose surviving portraits and records may already be limited.
AI-generated images have become easier to create and harder to spot for general audiences. In public history, technology can blur the line between illustration and evidence, especially when images are presented without clear labels explaining how they were created or whether they are historically accurate.
This problem may be more acute in women’s history. Many revolutionary women left behind fewer official records than men, and their contributions have often been filtered through family documents, letters, local memories, or later narratives. A sophisticated but inaccurate image can give readers false confidence.
LaHol said in the video that she is developing a summer series on “Broad History” about women in the American Revolutionary War. She describes the series as a podcast about “the history you think you know, this time featuring women.”
That focus made the White House page stand out to her.
In the video, Lahoul said that the page appeared to have far fewer women than men, and criticized what he called an attempt to fill the page with familiar first ladies rather than women who directly belonged to the revolutionary era.
Dolley Madison is not particularly well suited for the Revolutionary War section. Although she lived through the early years of the Republic and became a defining figure in Washington society, her most famous wartime involvement came decades later during the War of 1812, when she was credited with rescuing valuables from the White House before British troops burned it in 1814.
Extensive monitoring of some anniversary events
The criticism also comes as Freedom 250 promotes major events related to the anniversary, including Independence Day celebrations, government programs, educational projects, and military commemorations.
According to the White House page, the Department of Veterans Affairs will host events at local veterans facilities as well as national events related to Memorial Day, Veterans Day and the nation’s 250th anniversary. Also listed are Department of Defense programs such as America 250 video features, air shows, Fleet, Navy and Marine Corps Week, and military appreciation events at sports venues.
Historical accuracy is therefore no longer a design issue. Freedom 250 is being presented as a national public history initiative, and the images used will help shape the characters in the story.
In her video, Rahoul argued that the women of the revolution had already had to fight for a space in the public memory of the nation’s founding. Replacing these with generic or inaccurate AI-style numbers risks making the erasure even worse, she said.
