Philly officials suing after Parks Service removes slavery exhibit ‘presumably’ at the behest of Trump

The City of Philadelphia is suing the Interior Department, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the National Park Service, and its acting director, Jessica Bowron, after a slavery exhibit was removed from the President’s House Site in Independence National Historical Park.

The location is the former executive mansion of Founding Father George Washington, who lived there with nine African slaves from 1790 to 1797, before his successor, John Adams, occupied it for three years, ending in 1800, at which point he moved into the newly constructed White House.

The display in question – which was taken down by an NPS work crew Thursday afternoon – was first installed in 2010 and told the story of the lives of Washington’s slaves, who had been sent from the first president’s plantation home in Mount Vernon, Virginia, to serve him in Pennsylvania.

The city’s lawsuit, filed in federal court, requests a preliminary injunction to restore the information boards and assumes their removal complied with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order No. 14253, signed last March and otherwise known as “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

“Without notice to the City of Philadelphia, the National Park Service has removed artwork and informational displays at the President’s House site referencing slavery, presumably pursuant to the mandate in the Executive Order,” the lawsuit states.

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“Defendants have provided no explanation at all for their removal of the historical, educational displays at the President’s House site, let alone a reasoned one.”

The Independent has reached out to the White House, the Interior Department, and the National Park Service for comment.

Interior spokesperson Elizabeth Peace previously explained that the decision was taken following a review.

“The president has directed federal agencies to review interpretive materials to ensure accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values,” she said.

“Following completion of the required review, the National Park Service is now taking action to remove or revise interpretive materials in accordance with the order.”

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Trump’s order claims that a “corrosive ideology” has been allowed to “undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.”

“Under this historical revision, our nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed,” it states.

The order instructs Burgum to “take action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times).”

It also explicitly references Independence National Historical Park and directs Burgum to make funding available for improving its infrastructure by July 4 this year, when the U.S. will celebrate its 250th anniversary.

The American Historical Association was critical of Trump’s order when it appeared last spring, saying: “Historians explore the past to understand how our nation has evolved. We draw on a wide range of sources, which helps us to understand history from different angles of vision.

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“Our goal is neither criticism nor celebration. It is to understand – to increase our knowledge of – the past in ways that can help Americans to shape the future.”

Among those expressing anger over Thursday’s removal was Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who said: “Removing the exhibits is an effort to whitewash American history.

“History cannot be erased simply because it is uncomfortable. Removing items from the President’s House merely changes the landscape, not the historical record.”

Michael Coard, founding member of the advocacy group Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, which originally campaigned for and installed the display, called its removal “outrageous and blatantly racist” in a Facebook post.

The Black Journey, which offers historical walking tours of Philadelphia, commented on the same platform: “Just because Trump ordered the panels taken down doesn’t erase the history. The truth still lives here.”