{"id":730928,"date":"2026-06-28T11:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T11:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/730928\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T11:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T11:47:15","slug":"as-the-trump-administration-targets-a-slavery-exhibit-heres-why-philadelphia-wants-to-keep-its-version-on-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/730928\/","title":{"rendered":"As the Trump administration targets a slavery exhibit, here\u2019s why Philadelphia wants to keep its version on display"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philadelphia\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n Just days away from America\u2019s 250th birthday \u2014 and steps away from where the country itself was born \u2014 visitors to the City of Brotherly Love are met with an unusual sight: an incomplete national park.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s a living historical moment,\u201d said Mijuel Johnson, a local guide with a group called The Black Journey, who spends much of his working days giving tours around Philadelphia\u2019s historic district.\n <\/p>\n

\n Right next to some of the most recognizable landmarks in the United States \u2014 including where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence \u2014 a months-long legal battle between the City of Philadelphia and the Trump administration over an exhibit on slavery has paralyzed a portion of Independence National Historic Park<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n The fight is just one part of the Trump administration\u2019s ongoing campaign to purge cultural institutions of materials that conflict with the president\u2019s political directives, supported by an executive order<\/a> \u201crestoring truth and sanity\u201d to American history.\n <\/p>\n

\n But in this case, the result has been physical missing pieces, a legal entanglement spanning multiple courts and parties, and a city galvanized to keep the history of slavery alive.\n <\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

\n However, it\u2019s unclear if the site will be restored, removed or replaced anytime soon. The next move is up to the federal government.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHopefully when all of this is put back up, we might be able to add something talking about this part of the history of the memorial,\u201d Johnson told CNN, referring to the battle over the exhibit, as tourists passed through the site.\n <\/p>\n

\n The conflict itself over how to represent slavery, Johnson argued, should eventually be memorialized too.\n <\/p>\n

\n The dispute surrounds the President\u2019s House<\/a>, a perhaps lesser-known open-air part of the Philadelphia national park, which includes the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived at the house.\n <\/p>\n

\n For more than a decade, the President\u2019s House has honored the lives of nine men and women enslaved by George Washington in one of the homes he resided in while president. The exhibit, which was created as a collaboration between the City of Philadelphia and the National Park Service, also featured a historical timeline of American slavery.\n <\/p>\n

\"Protest<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

\n But as part of President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cRestoring Truth and Sanity to American History\u201d executive order and his administration\u2019s nationwide effort to remove content in cultural institutions that \u201cinappropriately disparage Americans past or living,\u201d the Department of Interior targeted the site for change.\n <\/p>\n

\n In January, video from CNN affiliate WPVI<\/a> showed work crews dismantling large display panels at the site with crowbars.\n <\/p>\n

\n The City of Philadelphia sued to stop the federal government from changing the exhibit and initially won in court.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201c\u2026this 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 wrote US District Court Judge Cynthia Rufe<\/a> in a February opinion.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt does not,\u201d stated Rufe.\n <\/p>\n

\n The original exhibits started to go back up.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the Trump administration appealed, and the restoration stopped. The Department of Interior later proposed its own new exhibit focusing less on slavery than the original exhibit.\n <\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

\n On June 18, a panel of three judges unanimously sided with the DOI, reversing a ruling the city won in February.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Third Circuit Court of Appeals judges ruled not only did the City of Philadelphia no longer have ownership over the President\u2019s House site, but it also concluded the Trump administration\u2019s revised exhibit was \u201cfull of historical context.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201c(The new panels) acknowledge the evil of slavery, including its injustices and hypocrisies, and, by telling the story of the nine slaves that Washington kept in the President\u2019s House, remind us of their essential humanity,\u201d read the opinion authored by Thomas Hardiman, a George W. Bush appointed judge<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Johnson, the local guide, looked down and held back a laugh when CNN read aloud the language of the opinion, which came down the day before Juneteenth.\n <\/p>\n

\"thumb<\/p>\n

‘Whitewashing history:’ critics slam removal of slavery exhibit\n <\/p>\n

\"thumb<\/p>\n

‘Whitewashing history:’ critics slam removal of slavery exhibit<\/p>\n

5:14<\/p>\n

\n Since the government released their proposed panels in April, advocates for the old exhibit have argued the new panels whitewash the horrors of slavery, while softening George Washington\u2019s views on it.\n <\/p>\n

\n For example, one of the original panels<\/a> noted that at his Virginia plantation, President Washington \u201coversaw more than 300 enslaved people, nine of whom served in his Philadelphia household.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n One of the new replacement panels<\/a> on the subject does not share the number of slaves Washington owned and instead reads in part: \u201cprivately, George Washington often expressed discomfort with the institution and a desire to see it abolished.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYet as a Virginia plantation owner, his wealth and livelihood were deeply tied to it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n An analysis from the Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a> also notes, \u201cmost of the new panels do not acknowledge the people Washington enslaved.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cRegardless of what the new panels say,\u201d Johnson said, \u201cthey\u2019re not the original panels that were made for this site. And they\u2019re not necessary.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n The ruling came as a gut punch to the city, some say, as many believed the matter was over.\n <\/p>\n

\n Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker pledged on X<\/a> to \u201cpursue every legal action possible\u201d to reverse the decision.\n <\/p>\n

\n Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro wrote<\/a> he would \u201cstand up to anyone who tries to whitewash some of the most important chapters of our shared history.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Civil rights activist and attorney Michael Coard was not surprised.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEvery single advance that Black people have gotten in this country since the birth of American slavery in 1619 came with struggle,\u201d argued Coard, who leads the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, which helped create the President\u2019s House site more than 15 years ago.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEven though I wasn\u2019t surprised, I was prepared,\u201d Coard said.\n <\/p>\n

\n While Coard would not say what specific actions his group would take next, as they are a party in the case, he and others noted the story isn\u2019t over.\n <\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

\n The City of Philadelphia could request the full Third Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case or even appeal to the Supreme Court. Coard also noted his group could file a new separate complaint.\n <\/p>\n

\n When asked about potential next steps this week, the city had no official comment beyond the mayor\u2019s original X statement.\n <\/p>\n

\n But some in the city are waiting to see how a separate court battle in Boston over changes to multiple national parks, including the President\u2019s House, plays out for answers.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN reached out to the White House and the Department of Interior to ask if changes at the Philadelphia national park are planned before the Fourth of July, when visitors from all over the globe are expected to visit the city for 250th celebrations and the World Cup.\n <\/p>\n

\n The White House deferred CNN\u2019s questions to the Department of Justice. Neither the DOJ or the DOI have responded.\n <\/p>\n

\n And for now the President\u2019s House remains conspicuously incomplete.\n <\/p>\n

\n A week after the appeals court ruling, a group of local volunteers spoke with tourists as they passed through the President\u2019s House.\n <\/p>\n

\n The amateur docents were eagerly sharing binders with the text of the original missing panels and reading them out loud.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m about to say this, but I am,\u201d said Coard, \u201cI have to thank President Trump.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Because of the controversy, Coard argued, the lesser-known slavery exhibit had received \u201cmore PR and street cred than we could have ever paid for.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n And area residents are also there to learn from the exhibit.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe have our friends here literally from the neighborhood. They\u2019re just over here reading (the text of the removed panels),\u201d Johnson said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThat\u2019s not a solution at all \u2014 everything needs to be put back \u2014 but that shows how much people in Philly actually care about the history,\u201d said the professional tour guide.\n <\/p>\n

\"Tour<\/p>\n

\n Patricia Jones, a Philadelphia native and local high school history teacher, heard about the President\u2019s House battle and wanted to see the site for herself.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think no matter what people are going to research and want to know (the history of slavery at the site),\u201d Jones told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be someone that can tell the history and the true story no matter what,\u201d she said as she flipped through a binder of the original text of the exhibit.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philadelphia\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Just days away from America\u2019s 250th birthday \u2014 and steps away from where the country itself was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-730928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}