Remaining slavery exhibits at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia do not need to be put back up for now after a last-minute ruling from an appeals court.
Third Circuit Judge Thomas Hardiman granted the Trump administration a partial stay shortly before it was set to miss a court-mandated 5 p.m. deadline to restore a series of exhibits and educational materials on the history of slavery at the site. Hardiman was appointed by former President George W. Bush.
Hardiman’s order calls to “preserve the status quo” at the site, meaning panels that have been put back up should stay, while those that haven’t don’t need to be reinstalled for now.
National Park Service crews have been reinstalling displays over the past two days. Crews continued to reinstall panels Friday, though the rain seemed to halt their progress.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker briefly visited the site Thursday and thanked NPS workers for carefully restoring the displays.
“Today we celebrate the return of our history at this important site,” Parker said in a statement released later in the day. “We are thankful for all the supporters across the city to get us to this point. We know that this is not the end of the legal road. We will handle all legal challenges that arise with the same rigor and gravity as we have done thus far.”
CBS Philadelphia
On Jan. 22, 2026, the informational signs were removed with almost no warning to the shock of many city leaders and activists.
The city of Philadelphia quickly filed a lawsuit in federal court to have the signs put back. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and several of the surrounding suburban counties filed amicus briefs in support of the city’s suit and accused President Trump of attempting to “rewrite and whitewash” history.
Earlier this month, a judge ordered the exhibits and related items be safely stored while the legal battle continued.
On Feb. 16, the judge ordered the Trump administration to restore the historic site to the way it was before the signs were removed. As part of the order, Judge Cynthia M. Rufe said federal officials needed to keep all of the items safe and undamaged, and couldn’t install any “replacement materials” without a mutual agreement with the City of Philadelphia.
CBS Philadelphia 
The Trump administration filed an appeal the following day. In a statement, a Department of the Interior spokesperson said, “Updated interpretive materials providing a fuller account of the history of slavery at Independence Hall would have been installed in the coming days,” though didn’t provide details on what those “updated materials” would entail.
The exhibits were removed by the NPS nearly nine months after Mr. Trump issued an executive order called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The President’s House Site, which was once the home of Presidents George Washington and John Adams, included displays about nine enslaved people who once lived there.
The Avenging The Ancestors Coalition, an organization of African American historians, activists and more, was among the leaders of the effort to get the slavery exhibit signage restored.
The group gathered at the President’s House Thursday and celebrated the city’s win in court.
“We were ecstatic,” Michael Coard, of the ATAC, said. “But we understand that this is a lawless administration. And even if we win in the courts, we don’t know they’re going to do the right thing with it. But first, we gotta win in the courts.”
Thursday’s sight came as a shock to some Philadelphians who came to the site expecting to take photos of bare walls. Mary Ann Cardillino says she rushed over after her husband saw the news. She had been to several rallies supporting the restoration of the displays. Seeing them back was emotional for her.
“Well, it’s important. It’s important,” Cardillino said. “It happened. It happened, and it’s part of our history. You can’t deny it. This is not just about 6th and Market. It’s not just about Philadelphia. It’s not just about Pennsylvania. This was the right thing to do for our country.”
“I am hopefully optimistic that, based on what has happened since they were taken down, the outrage that flew across the country, if not the world, that this decision will stand,” said Fred Miller, who also visited the President’s House Site on Thursday.
