NPS Pulls Slavery Exhibit at Washington’s Philly Residence

Visitors to the site where George Washington lived while serving as president will no longer see a National Park Service exhibit about the enslaved people who worked there, prompting the city of Philadelphia to sue over the decision.

On Thursday, NPS staff removed panels on slavery at the President’s House Site in Independence National Historical Park, following a March 2025 executive order from President Trump directing federal agencies to “[restore] truth and sanity to American history,” according to the Washington Post. The display, created with local community groups and unveiled in 2010, highlighted Washington’s slave ownership, provided a broader overview of slavery, and detailed the lives of the enslaved individuals who worked at the residence.

ABC Action News captured the removal, which is part of a broader review of park content related to race, gender, LGBTQ+ issues, slavery, and climate change, in line with Trump’s executive order. An Interior Department spokesperson said federal agencies must ensure materials reflect “accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values,” and that the NPS is “remov[ing] or revis[ing] interpretive materials in accordance with the order.” Similar changes are taking place elsewhere: at Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts, films discussing labor history were pulled, and a site in Arizona was told to remove a panel featuring a visitor holding a Pride flag.

Activists who helped develop the Philadelphia exhibit argue that the removals erase history. “They have taken down every single sign, monitors unplugged, everything,” said Mijuel K. Johnson of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, which worked with the NPS on the project. Michael Coard, a founding member, said removing references to slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was an attempt to scrub history. Former park chief Cindy MacLeod called the action “vandalism.”

The timing has intensified criticism. Independence Hall, just steps from the President’s House Site, is currently closed for renovations ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The city of Philadelphia has filed a lawsuit over the exhibit’s removal, naming the NPS and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum as defendants. “On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the birth of this country, this is a historical outrage,” Coard said, calling it “historical blasphemy,” according to the Post.

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