The City of Philadelphia is suing the Trump administration after the National Park Service removed a long-standing exhibit on slavery in the city\u2019s Independence National Historical Park.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit, filed in federal court Thursday against the US Interior Department, Secretary Doug Burgum, the park service and its acting director Jessica Bowron, asks for a judge to issue a preliminary injunction to return the displays.<\/p>\n
The exhibit, located at the President\u2019s House Site<\/a> where Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived, features displays honoring individuals enslaved by Washington and a historical timeline of American slavery.<\/p>\n Video from CNN-affiliate WPVI <\/a>shows work crews dismantling large display panels at the site on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cThe interpretive displays relating to enslaved persons at President\u2019s House are an integral part of the exhibit and removing them would be a material alteration to the exhibit,\u201d attorneys for the city said in the filing.<\/p>\n The exhibit\u2019s removal comes as the Trump administration continues its campaign to purge cultural institutions of materials that conflict with the president\u2019s political directives.<\/p>\n In an executive order<\/a> signed last March, President Donald Trump accused the Biden administration of advancing \u201ccorrosive ideology,\u201d specifically citing Independence Park, and called upon the Interior secretary to remove content within the department\u2019s jurisdiction that \u201cinappropriately disparage Americans past or living.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAmericans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation\u2019s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth,\u201d the order states. \u201cThis revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.\u201d<\/p>\n In the lawsuit, attorneys for the city wrote, \u201cWithout notice to the City of Philadelphia, the National Park Service has removed artwork and informational displays at the President\u2019s House site referencing slavery, presumably pursuant to the mandate in the Executive Order.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDefendants have provided no explanation at all for their removal of the historical, educational displays at the President\u2019s House site, let alone a reasoned one,\u201d the attorneys said.<\/p>\n CNN has reached out to the White House; the National Park Service; and Interior Department, which oversees NPS, for comment.<\/p>\n CNN has also reached out to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker.<\/p>\n City Council President Kenyatta Johnson slammed the removal, calling it \u201ctotally unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRemoving the exhibits is an effort to whitewash American history. History cannot be erased simply because it is uncomfortable,\u201d he said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Michael Coard, founding member of the advocacy group \u201cAvenging the Ancestors Coalition\u201d that helped installed the exhibit in 2010, in a social media post<\/a> called the removal \u201coutrageous and blatantly racist.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration has imposed the president\u2019s views on other US cultural and historical institutions, purging materials focused on diversity.<\/p>\n Last year, the American Battle Monuments Commission, a small, little-known federal agency, took down a cemetery display<\/a> in the Netherlands that commemorated the contributions of African American WWII soldiers and highlighted the discrimination they faced.<\/p>\n Trump also escalated his attacks<\/a> against Smithsonian museums last August, after the White House ordered a review of Smithsonian museums<\/a> and exhibits to ensure alignment with the president\u2019s directives on what should and shouldn\u2019t be displayed.<\/p>\n Trump said in a Truth Social post at the time, \u201cThe Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been \u2014 Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.\u201d<\/p>\n