The National Park Service removed the exhibit from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia in response to an executive order from Trump that was aimed at \u201crestoring truth and sanity to American history.\u201d The order instructed the Interior Department to ensure that the nation\u2019s museums, parks and landmarks do not display anything that \u201cinappropriately disparage Americans past or living.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.<\/p>\n
Reached for comment, the National Park Service told the Daily Beast: \u201cWe disagree with the court\u2019s ruling. The National Park Service routinely updates exhibits across the park system to ensure historical accuracy and completeness. If not for this unnecessary judicial intervention, updated interpretive materials providing a fuller account of the history of slavery at Independence Hall would have been installed in the coming days. The Department filed its appeal last night.\u201d<\/p>\n
News cameras and onlookers recorded staff removing the exhibit late last month, with one park employee reportedly telling the Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m just following my orders.\u201d<\/p>\n The exhibit was located at the President\u2019s House site in Philadelphia, where George and Martha Washington lived along with nine people enslaved by the couple when the city was briefly the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n Rufe ruled that all materials must be restored in their original condition while a lawsuit challenging the legality of the removal filed by Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker plays out.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s executive order<\/a>, issued on March 27, 2025, and titled \u201cRestoring Truth and Sanity to American History,\u201d stated that, \u201cOver the past decade, Americans 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<\/p>\n \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 her ruling, Rufe referenced George Orwell\u2019s 1984, writing, \u201cAs if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell\u2019s 1984 now existed, with its motto \u2018Ignorance is Strength,\u2019 this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims \u2014 to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt does not.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration has sought to whitewash history at multiple historical sites around the country, including removing a pride flag<\/a> from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City just last week and erasing references to transgender people<\/a> on the National Park Service\u2019s website for the monument. <\/p>\n References to the dispossession and mistreatment of Native Americans were also removed<\/a> from an exhibit at Grand Canyon National Park, and roadside displays addressing climate change, pollution and mining were also flagged for potential removal. <\/p>\n![\"PHILADELPHIA,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MFH74QSFUVG3VCMG4IQESJQYOU.jpg\")
Exhibits discussing slavery and the Founding Fathers’ owning slaves at the President’s House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Matthew Hatcher\/Getty Images <\/p>\n![\"PHILADELPHIA,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HWFMKBXKMBFMBLHG2JPPE7SVPI.jpg\")
The exhibit was removed as the result of an executive order. Matthew Hatcher\/Getty Images <\/p>\n![\"Stonewall\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/XD7DGXUDRNDKTGNQGVKLXGYK6Y.jpg\")
The Trump administration sought to rewrite LGBTQ+ history by ordering changes be made to the Stonewall National Monument, including the removal of a pride flag. Spencer Platt\/Getty Images <\/p>\n