PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Trump administration has until July 4th to restore the President’s House slavery exhibit in Old City.
A federal judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration must restore sites changed under an executive order calling for the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks not to display elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
The preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts also orders a pause on any additional changes, writing that the plaintiffs have shown that these efforts are meant “to rewrite the Nation’s history with a white-out pen.”
“History cannot be faithfully told while excluding the experiences of communities whose contributions, struggles, and achievements form an important part of our Nation’s story,” the judge wrote.
The Trump administration must provide a status report every week describing the progress they’ve made with these changes, the judge wrote.
“Under the guise of promoting American dignity, this Administration seeks to share a limited history by ordering the removal of all signs, displays, and interpretive exhibits at National Parks that do not align with its preferred narrative, thereby telling half-truths,” Kelley wrote.
The order comes in response to a February lawsuit filed by conservation and historical organizations over National Park Service policies that the groups say have forced park service staff to remove or censor dozens of exhibits that share factually accurate and relevant U.S. history and scientific knowledge, including about slavery and climate change.
Many of the changes were at Philly’s President’s House exhibit over the winter. The site at Sixth and Market streets was home to Presidents George Washington and John Adams, serving as the country's first executive mansion. After completing the memorial in 2010, the city donated it to the National Park Service.
The free outdoor exhibit included panels about slaves owned by Washington until it was stripped in January, leaving behind bare metal backings where the displays once were. Community members were outraged, and the city sued the federal government over its removal.
In February, a federal appeals judge overruled a district judge's injunction to restore the slavery exhibits at the President's House an hour before the restoration deadline.
In its appeal, the Trump administration argued the city failed to show harm from the removal of the exhibits because it had other ways to show the history of slavery at the President's House. It also argued that the injunction to force restoration of the exhibits violated the government's right to free speech.
Philly’s exhibit was among hundreds across the country that were targeted. Other changes included removing a sign at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona describing basalt bubbles because it had an image of a visitor holding a Pride flag, while films on labor history were removed from the Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts.
President Donald Trump signed the executive order “restoring truth and sanity to American history” at the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks last year. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum later directed removal of “improper partisan ideology” from museums, monuments, landmarks and other public exhibits under federal control.
Alan Spears, senior director for cultural resources for the National Parks Conservation Association, one of the organizations that brought the lawsuit, said the ruling will help protect national parks from the administration's effort “to erase history and science at these one-of-a-kind places.”
“National parks belong to the American people and censorship of any kind goes against the values these places represent,” he said.
Bill Wade, executive director for the Association of National Park Rangers, another organization that brought the lawsuit, said this is especially good news for National Parks employees who “have prided themselves for being able to provide truthful, accurate and unbiased information."
