From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!
A judge has ordered the federal government to return the slavery exhibit to the President’s House Site on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall by Friday, escalating her earlier intervention in the contentious fight over retelling American history.
U.S. District Court Judge Cynthia Rufe ruled Monday in favor of a preliminary injunction sought by the city of Philadelphia seeking to restore the panels depicting the lives of people enslaved by George Washington while he lived in Philadelphia as president.
In her Wednesday order, Rufe said the U.S. Department of the Interior and National Park Service failed to comply “forthwith,” and she is now demanding that they restore the panels by 5 p.m. Friday. The administration has said it plans to appeal the ruling.
The park service removed the panels on Jan. 22 after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at preventing national parks and museums from displaying exhibits that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” The panels, on display since 2010, detailed the lives of nine people enslaved by Washington while Philadelphia briefly served as the nation’s capital, and were part of a collaborative memorial effort involving the city, the NPS, local advocates and historians.