A collection of informational indicators about slavery have been eliminated Thursday from the President’s Home in Outdated Metropolis Philadelphia, a historic web site operated by the Nationwide Park Service.
Earlier than the President’s Home exhibit web site at sixth and Market streets — as soon as the house of Presidents George Washington and John Adams — opened in 2010, native activists urged the creators to incorporate details about the enslaved individuals who lived on the house. These tales made it into the ultimate exhibit.
CBS Information Philadelphia has reached out to the Nationwide Park Service and the mayor’s workplace for remark and is ready to listen to again.
However the metropolis filed a lawsuit in federal courtroom Thursday in search of to have the indicators put again. The go well with says town has prior agreements with NPS that require any disputes to be resolved “in an off-the-cuff style by way of communication and session…or different types of non-binding different dispute decision which can be mutually acceptable to the events.”
On this case, NPS and the Inside Division “didn’t interact with town and would not have town’s approval to make unilateral adjustments to the President’s Home exhibit,” the lawsuit says.
Paul Steinke, govt director of the Preservation Alliance for Larger Philadelphia, informed CBS Philadelphia that employees from the park service eliminated the signage.
“The choice to do that seems to be made as a result of the President’s Home Web site memorialized the 9 enslaved people that have been held there towards their will by President Washington and his spouse Martha, and that is the one federal historic web site that commemorates the historical past of slavery in America,” Steinke mentioned.
In September, President Trump signed an govt order geared toward eradicating “ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives.” The order, titled “Restoring Fact and Sanity to American Historical past,” particularly talked about Philadelphia’s Independence Nationwide Historic Park, house of the Liberty Bell and the President’s Home, in addition to the Smithsonian Establishment’s museums in Washington, D.C.
On the time, dozens of Philadelphia organizations signed a letter to Inside Secretary Doug Burgum opposing the adjustments.
CBS Information Philadelphia
Burgum was given a deadline of July 4, 2026, to finish any adjustments to Independence Nationwide Historic Park — a day when the positioning will take middle stage because the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary.
The manager order directed Burgum to make sure memorials “don’t comprise descriptions, depictions, or different content material that inappropriately disparage Individuals previous or dwelling (together with individuals dwelling in colonial instances), and as an alternative concentrate on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American individuals.”
After the president signed the order, the Philadelphia Metropolis Council handed two resolutions condemning it.
Philadelphia leaders react to elimination of displays from President’s Home
Steinke mentioned the exhibit “was created after years of scholarship and analysis to ensure we bought the story proper.”
“At the moment in a matter of minutes it was all ripped down, and presumably put away in storage for who is aware of how lengthy. It is a horrible day for American historical past, it is a horrible day for Independence Nationwide Historic Park. It is a horrible day for our metropolis,” he mentioned.
Steinke mentioned he believes the tales will reemerge somewhere else in Philadelphia within the days and weeks to return.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro mentioned on social media that, “Donald Trump will take any alternative to rewrite and whitewash our historical past. However he picked the unsuitable metropolis — and he positive as hell picked the unsuitable Commonwealth. We be taught from our historical past in Pennsylvania, even when it is painful.”
Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle, who represents Philadelphia, mentioned in a press release that the indicators’ elimination was “completely unacceptable.”
“Philadelphia and the whole nation deserve an trustworthy accounting of our historical past, and this effort to cover it’s unsuitable,” the assertion learn.
Philadelphia Metropolis Council President Kenyatta Johnson mentioned in a press release the elimination of the slavery shows is an “effort to whitewash American historical past.”
“Historical past can’t be erased just because it’s uncomfortable,” Johnson mentioned in a press release partially. “Eradicating objects from the President’s Home merely adjustments the panorama, not the historic file.”
As of Thursday night, the official park service web site for the President’s Home mentioned, “The out of doors displays look at the paradox between slavery and freedom within the new nation.” It additionally notes that the exhibit contains the views of “enslaved people.”
“Though the home was demolished in 1832, a few of it is tales are preserved by way of movies shared from the attitude of enslaved people who lived and labored right here, and textual content panels make clear every thing from visiting tribal delegations to the work of the manager department,” the web site states.
