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A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore an exhibit about nine people enslaved by George and Martha Washington at a historic site in Philadelphia after the National Park Service removed the display panels last month, according to a ruling issued on Presidents Day, the federal holiday honoring Washington’s legacy.
U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ruled that the materials must be returned to their original condition while litigation over the legality of the removal continues. She also barred Trump officials from installing replacement materials that would explain the history differently during the case.
The dispute centers on Independence National Historical Park, where the Washingtons lived in the 1790s with nine enslaved people. The city of Philadelphia sued in January after the National Park Service took down explanatory panels connected to the exhibit.
According to the Associated Press report, the National Park Service’s removal came in response to a Trump executive order that directed the Interior Department to ensure federal museums, parks, and landmarks do not display elements that the order described as “inappropriately disparag[ing] Americans past or living.”
In her written order, Rufe began with a quote from George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984” and compared the Trump administration’s actions to the book’s “Ministry of Truth,” which revised historical records to fit the ruling party’s narrative. Rufe wrote that, in her view, the government lacks the power it claimed to “dissemble and disassemble historical truths” for sites under its control.
Rufe also said she had warned Justice Department lawyers during a January hearing that their arguments were “dangerous” and “horrifying” when they suggested officials could choose which parts of U.S. history to display. The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling, which arrived while government offices were closed for the federal holiday.
The exhibit that was removed, created roughly two decades ago through a partnership between Philadelphia and federal officials, included biographical details about each of the nine enslaved people. After federal employees removed the plaques on Jan. 22, only the names of the nine individuals remained engraved in a cement wall.
Among those listed was Oney Judge, who was born into slavery at the Washingtons’ plantation in Mount Vernon, Virginia. She later escaped from the Washingtons’ Philadelphia home in 1796, fled north to New Hampshire, and Washington authorities had her declared a fugitive, publishing advertisements seeking her return.
The report said the National Park Service added Judge in 2022 to a national network of Underground Railroad sites after she escaped from the Philadelphia house, with the agency pledging to “honor, preserve and promote the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight.” Rufe said the removal of materials about Judge “conceals crucial information linking the site” to that network.
Local and Black community leaders welcomed the ruling. State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a Philadelphia Democrat, said the community prevailed against what he called an attempt by the Trump administration to “whitewash our history,” adding that “Philadelphians fought back, and I could not be more proud of how we stood together.”