National Park Service removes slavery exhibit in Philadelphia

The National Park Service removed an exhibit at the President’s House Site at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last week. The “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation” exhibit focused on the nine slaves who lived at the location when President George Washington resided there from 1790 to 1797, when Philadelphia was the capital of the United States. Its removal was the result of President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

Issued in March 2025, Trump’s directive sought to remove all historical displays that featured a “false reconstruction of American history” and promoted “partisan ideology” that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living.” 

“Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite