Philadelphia sued the Trump administration Thursday to reverse the removal of an exhibit documenting slavery at Independence National Historical Park, challenging an executive order directing federal agencies to review historical interpretations for “accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values.” The National Park Service removed the display detailing nine enslaved people who lived at the President’s House when George and Martha Washington occupied the residence during Philadelphia’s tenure as the nation’s capital.
The dispute reflects a broader conflict over how federal institutions tell America’s historical narrative. As the Trump administration emphasizes a “more positive telling of the American story” for the nation’s 250th anniversary, it has pressured museums and parks to modify their interpretive materials—a move critics say erases unflattering but essential chapters of historical record.
The removal
The National Park Service removed the interpretive display Thursday detailing nine enslaved people who lived at Philadelphia’s President’s House when George and Martha Washington occupied the residence during the nation’s early years. The exhibit included biographical information about Austin, Paris, Hercules, Christopher Sheels, Richmond, Giles, Oney Judge, Moll, and Joe—names now engraved in cement but no longer explained to park visitors.
The removal came in response to President Trump’s executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which directs federal agencies to review interpretive materials at museums, parks, and landmarks.
The lawsuit
Philadelphia filed suit Thursday against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron, seeking to reverse the removal permanently.
Mayor Cherelle Parker said the removal violated a 2006 cooperative agreement between the city and the federal government. “That agreement requires parties to meet and confer if there are to be any changes made to an exhibit,” Parker said at a press conference Friday.
The city’s lawsuit argues that slavery is central to the site’s historical significance. One of the enslaved people—Oney Judge—ran away from the Washingtons and remained free despite their attempts to force her return to bondage. Her story is documented as an act of resistance against enslavement at the nation’s symbolic birthplace of liberty.
Administration response
The Interior Department said the panels were removed to ensure interpretive materials met standards of “accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values.” The department did not specify what would replace the removed exhibits.
The department dismissed Philadelphia’s lawsuit as “frivolous,” characterizing it as aimed at “demeaning our brave Founding Fathers who set the brilliant road map for the greatest country in the world.”
Public reaction
Karen Oliver, a Philadelphia resident who visited the exhibit Friday, said she was “heartbroken” at the removal. Someone left a bouquet of flowers at the empty space where the panels had been. A hand-lettered sign read: “Slavery was real.”
Rep. Dwight Evans, a Democrat whose district includes Philadelphia, said the removal raised broader, disturbing questions about the administration’s continued abuse of power and commitment to rewriting history.
State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta said America’s history, as painful as some chapters are, isn’t disparaged by telling the whole truth. “Trying to erase American history, however, disparages who we are. This is yet another egregious example of revisionist history that future generations will condemn,” he said.
Ed Stierli, regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said the removal reversed years of collaborative work and sets a precedent that favors nostalgia over accuracy. The move, he said, “insults the memory of the enslaved people who lived there.”
Timothy Welbeck, director of the Center for Anti-Racism at Temple University, said the removal exemplified reluctance to confront difficult history. “It shows that the United States is still unwilling to reckon with the horrors of its past and would rather prefer to sanitize the history that it has and try to present a convenient lie,” Welbeck said.
Broader institutional pressure
The exhibit removal is part of a broader shift in how the Trump administration approaches federal historical interpretation. As the nation prepares to commemorate its 250th anniversary, the administration has focused on what it calls a “more positive telling of the American story” and has put pressure on federal institutions, including the Smithsonian, to modify how they present history—particularly with regard to narratives about race.
Trump’s executive order cites concerns about the prior administration’s approach, stating that federal agencies had sponsored training by organizations advocating dismantling “Western foundations” and “interrogating institutional racism,” and that the National Park Service had pressured rangers to allow racial identity to shape how they convey history to visitors.