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The city of Philadelphia sued the Interior Department and the acting director of the National Park Service on Thursday, alleging that federal officials unlawfully removed exhibits referencing slavery from a prominent historic site near Independence Hall.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, seeks a preliminary injunction requiring the restoration of educational panels at the President’s House Site, part of Independence National Historical Park. City officials say the exhibits were dismantled without notice and in violation of federal law.
According to the complaint, Philadelphia learned Thursday that artwork and informational displays addressing slavery had been removed from the site, which marks the former residence of Presidents George Washington and John Adams during the nation’s early years.
Background
The President’s House Site commemorates the executive mansion Washington occupied while Philadelphia served as the nation’s capital. Washington enslaved people who lived and worked at the house, a fact long documented by historians and acknowledged by the National Park Service.
In 2003, the House of Representatives urged the National Park Service to recognize the enslaved people held at the site. The agency and the city later entered into a cooperative agreement in 2006 to create an exhibit addressing both the presidency and slavery. The memorial and interpretive panels have been in place since the site opened in 2010, according to the lawsuit.
One of the removed panels was titled “The Dirty Business of Slavery.” Video aired Thursday by NBC Philadelphia showed workers using crowbars to dismantle the displays.
Legal Arguments
The city argues that the removal of the exhibits was unlawful, arbitrary and procedurally improper.
“The National Park Service has removed artwork and informational displays at the President’s House site referencing slavery, presumably pursuant to the mandate” of Executive Order No. 14253, the lawsuit states.
City attorneys say Philadelphia received no notice before the changes were made and that federal officials offered no explanation for removing the displays.
“Defendants have provided no explanation at all for their removal of the historical, educational displays at the President’s House site, let alone a reasoned one,” the suit says, calling the actions “arbitrary and capricious.”
Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson accused the federal government of attempting to obscure history.
“Removing the exhibits is an effort to whitewash American history,” Johnson said in a statement. “History cannot be erased simply because it is uncomfortable.”
Government Response
The Interior Department and the National Park Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Thursday.
However, Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace told The Washington Post that the changes followed a review ordered by President Donald Trump.
“The President has directed federal agencies to review interpretive materials to ensure accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values,” Peace said. “Following completion of the required review, the National Park Service is now taking action to remove or revise interpretive materials in accordance with the Order.”
Trump signed Executive Order No. 14253 in March. The order instructs the Interior Department not to include “descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living,” including figures from colonial times. It directs agencies to instead emphasize national achievements and progress.
The order is titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
Reactions From Experts and Officials
The executive order has drawn sharp criticism from historians and civil rights advocates.
The American Historical Association said in March that the order “egregiously misrepresents” the work of historians and institutions such as the Smithsonian, which the order criticized by name.
“Historians explore the past to understand how our nation has evolved,” the group said. “Our goal is neither criticism nor celebration. It is to understand — to increase our knowledge of — the past.”
Local activists and elected officials also condemned the removal of the President’s House exhibits.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., whose district includes the site, said the decision undermines historical honesty.
“Philadelphia and the entire country deserve an honest accounting of our history, and this effort to hide it is wrong,” Boyle said in a statement.
The Black Journey, a group that leads walking tours focused on Black history in Philadelphia, said the panels’ removal does not change the facts.
“Just because Trump ordered the panels taken down doesn’t erase the history,” the group wrote on Facebook. “The truth still lives here.”
Broader Context
The lawsuit comes amid broader changes to historical interpretation during Trump’s second term.
In February, prior to the executive order, the National Park Service altered the website for Stonewall National Monument, removing references to transgender and queer people. The Stonewall Inn was the site of a pivotal uprising in the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
Historians and advocacy groups have warned that such revisions risk politicizing public history and limiting how the nation confronts its past.
Next Steps
Philadelphia is asking a federal judge to order the immediate restoration of the exhibits while the lawsuit proceeds. The case could test the limits of executive authority over historical interpretation at federally managed sites.
No hearing date was immediately announced.
