The City of Philadelphia Is Suing the Trump Admin Over the Removal of Exhibits
The City of Philadelphia is suing the Trump administration after the removal of exhibits honoring slavery from the historic President’s House site in Old City, a move that has sparked outrage from historians, activists, and city leaders.
The outdoor exhibit, operated by the National Park Service within Independence National Historical Park, documented the lives of people enslaved by George Washington while he lived at the residence during his presidency and explored the central role slavery played in the nation’s founding.
On Thursday, crews were seen dismantling multiple panels from the exhibit titled “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,” including sections labeled “Life Under Slavery” and “The Dirty Business of Slavery.” The removals followed a March 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump directing federal agencies to review and eliminate what the administration describes as “improper ideology” in public history displays. Critics say the order is being used to sanitize history and suppress honest discussions of slavery and racism.
Michael Coard, a civil rights attorney and leader of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, condemned the removals, calling them unprecedented and disgraceful. Videos of the dismantling circulated widely online, showing one worker repeatedly saying, “I’m just following orders,” as bystanders questioned why the exhibits were being taken down.
The U.S. Department of the Interior confirmed that the National Park Service acted in accordance with Trump’s executive order, stating that interpretive materials were removed or revised following an internal review to ensure alignment with the administration’s standards. Activists and historians had previously petitioned against the order, warning it would lead to the erasure of Black history from national institutions.
Within hours of the removals, the city filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, naming the Interior Department, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the National Park Service, and its acting director as defendants. City attorneys argue that the slavery-related exhibits are an integral part of the President’s House site and that their removal constitutes a material alteration made without notice or explanation. The lawsuit says federal officials failed to provide any justification for stripping the historical and educational displays.
Advocates say the Philadelphia case is part of a broader pattern under the Trump administration, which has included removing Black historical figures from federal websites and eliminating diversity-related materials from National Park gift shops. For critics, the empty spaces left behind at the President’s House are not neutral omissions but deliberate acts that reshape how the nation tells its own history.
