PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The National Park Service has removed a slavery exhibit from Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order to “restore truth and sanity” to American history in national museums, parks and landmarks.
Crews on Thursday removed an exhibit at the presidential palace site that included the names and other biographical details of nine slaves who lived and worked there under President George Washington. The information panel discussed Washington’s use of slave labor at the presidential palace in Philadelphia, saying he “knew and trusted” the people he enslaved.
In an effort to prevent the permanent removal of the panels, the city of Philadelphia on Thursday sued the Department of the Interior and Department Secretary Doug Burgum, as well as acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowlen.
Last year, Trump ordered a review of all interpretive materials at National Park Service sites “to ensure accuracy, honesty and consistency with shared national values,” Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Pease said in a statement to The Washington Post.
“After completing the required review, the National Park Service is now taking action under the order to remove or modify the interpretive material,” Pease said in a statement.
The deletions confirm what critics have long decried as the Trump administration’s attempts to erase unflattering aspects of American history.
The order, signed by Trump last March, accused the Biden administration of promoting a “corrosive ideology” on national monuments.
“At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — where our nation proclaimed that all men are created equal — the previous administration funded training by a group that advocated for dismantling the ‘foundation of the West’ and ‘questioning institutional racism,’ and pressured national historical park rangers that their racial identity should determine how they communicate history to visiting Americans because of an allegedly racist United States,” the order said.
