PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday replaced an exhibit on slavery at the site of President George Washington’s home in Philadelphia with a version that historians say whitewashes the nation’s history.
The new exhibit was installed in the same area where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776.
“Overnight, under the cover of darkness, the federal government removed panels at the President’s House that told a thorough
history of Philadelphia,” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said Wednesday. “It was allowed to do this by the decision of the federal court, but that it did so at night shows it understands this action is shameful, that it violates community trust.”
The changed exhibition comes as Trump has made dismantling diversity and inclusion initiatives a priority in an aggressive campaign to overhaul some of Washington’s most sacred cultural and historic institutions.
The original panels were put in place in 2010 and told the story of how nine slaves lived in the home along with George and Martha Washington in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the nation’s capital.
Those panels were updated after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in 2025 that called for federally owned or controlled historic sites to not display information to “disparage Americans past or living” and to focus on the “greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”
The directive has raised concerns about sanitizing and erasing dark sides of American history.
Trump has continued a broadside against culture he deems too liberal. In March, Trump revealed his intention to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order that targeted funding for programs that advanced “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology." He has also pressured organizations outside of the government, including universities, to take similar actions with the stated aim of eliminating what he says are discriminatory practices.
A lower court forced the federal government in February to remove the new panels after they already had been installed earlier this year. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit of Appeals reversed that and ruled July 3 that the work could continue.
The three-judge panel praised the plans for the replacement installation, writing that they were “full of historical context,” despite objections from historians and city officials that the content appears whitewashed.
A government website with images of the new panels showed they would still have information on enslaved people who lived in the home. It would also include details on the abolitionist movement, how the Constitution treated slavery, the end of slavery in Pennsylvania and how Washington and his successor, John Adams, viewed and treated slavery, as well as information about the 20th century Civil Rights movement.
However, the replacement panels do not include some of detail in the earlier ones, such as a map of slave trade routes and a timeline on slavery. They also avoid critical headlines such as “The Dirty Business of Slavery.”
The city of Philadelphia had sued the federal government over the removal of information previously included in the panels. It argued that the federal government must consult with the city before making changes to the President’s House Site. Justice Department lawyers argued the administration alone can decide what stories are told at National Park Service properties.
Parker said the city intends to seek a rehearing “on serious legal issues” presented in the appeals court decision.
Michael Coard, an attorney and founder of Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), said the Philadelphia-based history preservation group continues to work on legal strategies opposing the Trump administration’s changing of the panels.
ATAC joined the city’s lawsuit.
Trump is attempting to rewrite history, Coard told reporters Wednesday near the site.
“What if there’s a president next time who doesn’t like the Liberty Bell because the Liberty Bell was used by abolitionists to support the end of slavery?” he said. “What if there’s a president who doesn’t like the Statue of Liberty because too many immigrants come in? Do we remove the Statue of Liberty?”
The Interior Department told The Associated Press Wednesday in a statement that the new “panels are full of historical context and highlight the momentous events that took place in the President’s House and the other sites at Independence National Historical Park.”
“They acknowledge the evils of slavery, including its injustices and hypocrisies, and, by telling the stories of the nine slaves that Washington kept in the President’s House, remind us of their essential humanity,” the statement said.
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Williams reported from Detroit.
