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The National Park Service has removed an image and quote from Harriet Tubman—one of the most iconic figures in American history—from its official webpage on the Underground Railroad. The move is part of a broader trend under President Donald Trump’s second administration to strip diversity and inclusion-focused content from government websites.
A comparison between archived versions of the Underground Railroad webpage, dated January 21 and March 19 via the Wayback Machine, shows that Tubman’s quote and image have been deleted. In addition, references to “enslaved people,” the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and the origins of the Underground Railroad have been significantly reduced or removed.
The updated version of the webpage now opens with paragraphs emphasizing “American ideals of liberty and freedom,” accompanied by images of civil rights-era commemorative stamps. The term “slavery” does not appear until much later on the page.
Historians and civil rights scholars have expressed alarm at the change.
“Tubman’s removal from the Underground Railroad page is both offensive and absurd,” said Fergus Bordewich, a historian and author of Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America. “To oversimplify history is to distort it. Americans are not infants; they can handle complex and challenging historical narratives.”
Janell Hobson, a professor of women’s studies at the University at Albany, SUNY, echoed that sentiment.
“Tubman is one of our greatest American heroes,” Hobson told CNN. “The National Park Service owes it to her and other heroes like her to stand in the truth of what this history has been.”
The change comes amid a broader rollback of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives across federal agencies. Recent months have seen the removal of LGBTQ+ terminology from the Stonewall National Monument page and the temporary deletion of a Pentagon article about Jackie Robinson.
Sources within the Department of Defense told CNN that officials have been directed to flag or remove web content using terms like “racism,” “LGBTQ,” and “first.”
President Trump has also taken steps to assert control over cultural institutions, removing members from the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and issuing an executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution, specifically naming the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Although a separate National Park Service page dedicated to Harriet Tubman remains online and appears unchanged since January 28, advocates fear this may not last.
The National Park Service has not responded to requests for comment.
