“When a Black woman at the top of her field is treated like this, what message is it sending to the rest of the federal workforce?” said former Biden White House official Yemisi Egbewole.
Dr. Carla Hayden, the former Librarian of Congress, is breaking her silence about her unceremonious firing by the Trump administration after serving on the job for nearly a decade.
In an upcoming interview on “CBS Sunday,” Hayden, the first woman and Black woman to hold the position, reveals that she received no heads-up from the White House before her abrupt termination on May 8.
“I’ve received no communication directly, except for that one email,” said Hayden of the communication she received from the deputy director of the White House Office of Personnel, Trent Morse. The email read only two sentences: “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”
Despite her years of public service, serving as Librarian of Congress through the administrations of former President Barack Obama, President Trump (during his first term), and former President Joe Biden, Hayden told CBS, “I was never notified beforehand and after.” She added, “No one talked to me directly at all from the White House.”
“They treated her like she was disposable,” said Yemisi Egbewole, former chief of staff for the White House Press Secretary’s Office during the Biden-Harris administration. She told theGrio, “This is an example of somebody who’s a trailblazer; a Black woman leading one of the most storied institutions. She did it with dignity, vision, excellence, no complaints, no controversies, nothing ever raised during her tenure.”
Political analyst Reecie Colbert said Hayden’s firing was no surprise coming from the administration, considering President Trump’s anti-DEI agenda.
“All they see is a Black person, and that they don’t want Black people in these roles–period,” she told theGrio. “I don’t know that they even thought that this was anything of significance. I think they see that every time there’s a Black person there, we need to get them out. It’s disgusting, it’s racist.”
Egbewole said Hayden’s termination is an “extreme” example of a “larger problem” with the Trump administration and the “broader disrespect for federal workers.”
“When a Black woman at the top of her field is treated like this, what message is it sending to the rest of the federal workforce?” she asked.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has made the mass firing of federal workers, including career civil servants, a major focal point. Tens of thousands of federal employees have been terminated for various reasons, including those working in so-called DEI roles. Many firings are being challenged in federal court.
“They’re just telling you that competence and service, it doesn’t matter if you don’t fit their mold, and that mold is starting to look more and more homogeneous in a very Anglo-Saxon kind of way,” said Egbewole. “Dr. Hayden deserves better. Federal workers in general deserve better. And frankly, at this point, so does the country.”
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Originally sourced via trusted media partner. https://thegrio.com/2025/06/06/carla-hayden-historic-former-librarian-of-congress-breaks-silence-after-white-abruptly-fired-her/
