Federal court blocks Trump-era removal of slave history exhibit at historic site
Newsy
Judge blocks Trump administration’s removal of panels on Washington’s enslaved people, ordering exhibit at Philadelphia historic site restored.
An exhibit about nine people enslaved by George Washington must be restored at his former home in Philadelphia after President Donald Trump’s administration took it down last month, a federal judge ruled on Presidents Day, the federal holiday honoring Washington's legacy.
The city of Philadelphia sued in January after the National Park Service removed the explanatory panels from Independence National Historical Park, the site where George and Martha Washington lived with nine of their slaves in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the nation’s capital.
The removal came in response to a Trump executive order “restoring truth and sanity to American history” at the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks. It directed the Interior Department to ensure those sites do not display elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ruled Monday that all materials must be restored in their original condition while a lawsuit challenging the removal's legality plays out. She prohibited Trump officials from installing replacements that explain the history differently.
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Judge blocks Trump administration’s removal of panels on Washington’s enslaved people, ordering exhibit at Philadelphia historic site restored.
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