PHILADELPHIA — Slavery exhibits removed from Independence National Historical Park in January were ordered to be restored recently.
A federal judge Monday ruled against the Trump administration’s removal of exhibits referencing American slavery at Independence National Historical Park.
The National Park Service removed the exhibits Jan. 22 at the behest of the Trump Administration.
Their removal was tied a March 2025 executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity To American History” that in part reads:
“The Secretary of the Interior shall take action 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), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”
It specifically mentions Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.
“The prior administration sponsored training by an organization that advocates dismantling ‘Western foundations’ and ‘interrogating institutional racism’ and pressured National Historical Park rangers that their racial identity should dictate how they convey history to visiting Americans because America is purportedly racist,” the order reads.
U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe issued her ruling on restoring the exhibits Monday, saying the federal government must “reinstall all panels, displays, and video exhibits that were previously in place.” Additionally, the ruling says the government must not “prevent any additions, removals, destruction, or further changes of any kind to the President’s House site, except in the event that a mutual written agreement is reached between Defendants and the City of Philadelphia.”
“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims—to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts,” she wrote. “It does not.”
Congressman Brendan Boyles, whose district includes the park, welcomed the restoration.
“I strongly opposed the Trump Administration’s decision to remove these exhibits, and I welcome the federal court’s ruling that they must be restored,” he said. “I am proud of our country and its founding ideals. Preserving our nation’s ideals depends on telling the full truth about our history, the good and the bad.”
After protesters called for their reinstatement, and a judge ordered the exhibits to be safely stored following their removal, the collar counties joined the effort to restore them.