{"id":139287,"date":"2026-07-15T16:07:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T22:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/federal-government-installs-reworked-panels-about-slavery-at-george-washingtons-philadelphia-home\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T16:10:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T22:10:22","slug":"federal-government-installs-reworked-panels-about-slavery-at-george-washingtons-philadelphia-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/federal-government-installs-reworked-panels-about-slavery-at-george-washingtons-philadelphia-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal government replaces slavery exhibition at Washington’s home in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Visitors
Visitors view the reinstalled educational panels about slavery at the site of President George Washington's home in Philadelphia, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration on Wednesday replaced an exhibit on slavery at the site of President George Washington\u2019s home in Philadelphia with a version that historians say whitewashes the nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

The new exhibit was installed in the same area where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776.<\/p>\n

\u201cOvernight, under the cover of darkness, the federal government removed panels at the President\u2019s House that told a thorough history of Philadelphia,\u201d Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said. \u201cIt was allowed to do this by the decision of the federal court, but that it did so at night shows it understands this action is shameful, that it violates community trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original panels were put in place in 2010 and told the story of how nine slaves lived in the home along with George and Martha Washington in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

The changed exhibition comes as President Donald Trump has made dismantling diversity and inclusion initiatives a priority in an aggressive campaign to overhaul some of America’s most sacred cultural, historic and educational institutions.<\/p>\n

Trump issued an executive order<\/a> in 2025 that called for federally owned or controlled historic sites to not display information to \u201cdisparage Americans past or living\u201d and to focus on the \u201cgreatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The directive has raised concerns about sanitizing and erasing dark sides of American history.<\/p>\n

Trump has continued a broadside against culture he deems too liberal. In March, Trump revealed his intention to force changes<\/a> at the Smithsonian Institution<\/a> with an executive order<\/a> that targeted funding for programs that advanced \u201cdivisive narratives\u201d and \u201cimproper ideology.” He has also pressured organizations outside of the government, including universities, to take similar actions with the stated aim of eliminating what he says are discriminatory practices.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration first installed the new panels earlier this year, but a lower court forced the federal government in February<\/a> to remove them. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit of Appeals reversed that and ruled July 3<\/a> that the work could continue.<\/p>\n

The three-judge panel praised the plans for the replacement installation, writing that they were \u201cfull of historical context,\u201d despite objections from historians and city officials that the content appears whitewashed.<\/p>\n

The Interior Department told The Associated Press Wednesday in a statement that the new \u201cpanels are full of historical context and highlight the momentous events that took place in the President\u2019s House and the other sites at Independence National Historical Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey acknowledge the evils of slavery, including its injustices and hypocrisies, and, by telling the stories of the nine slaves that Washington kept in the President\u2019s House, remind us of their essential humanity,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

A government website<\/a> with images of the new panels showed they would still have information on enslaved people who lived in the home. It would also include details on the abolitionist movement, how the Constitution treated slavery, the end of slavery in Pennsylvania and how Washington and his successor, John Adams, viewed and treated slavery, as well as information about the 20th century Civil Rights movement.<\/p>\n

However, the replacement panels do not include some of detail in the earlier ones, such as a map of slave trade routes and a timeline on slavery. They also avoid critical headlines such as \u201cThe Dirty Business of Slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city of Philadelphia had sued the federal government over the removal of information previously included in the panels. It argued that the federal government must consult with the city before making changes to the President\u2019s House Site. Justice Department lawyers argued the administration alone can decide what stories are told at National Park Service properties.<\/p>\n

Parker said the city intends to seek a rehearing \u201con serious legal issues\u201d presented in the appeals court decision.<\/p>\n

Michael Coard, an attorney and founder of Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), said the Philadelphia-based history preservation group continues to work on legal strategies opposing the Trump administration\u2019s changing of the panels.<\/p>\n

ATAC joined the city\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Trump is attempting to rewrite history, Coard told reporters Wednesday near the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if there\u2019s a president next time who doesn\u2019t like the Liberty Bell because the Liberty Bell was used by abolitionists to support the end of slavery?\u201d he said. \u201cWhat if there\u2019s a president who doesn\u2019t like the Statue of Liberty because too many immigrants come in? Do we remove the Statue of Liberty?\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Williams reported from Detroit.<\/p>\n

\"Visitors
Visitors view the reinstalled educational panels about slavery at the site of President George Washington's home in Philadelphia, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Visitors
Visitors view the reinstalled educational panels about slavery at the site of President George Washington's home in Philadelphia, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Visitors
Visitors view the reinstalled educational panels about slavery at the site of President George Washington's home in Philadelphia, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Visitors
Visitors view the reinstalled educational panels about slavery at the site of President George Washington's home in Philadelphia, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visitors view the reinstalled educational panels about slavery at the site of President George Washington's home in Philadelphia, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa)(AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa) PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration on Wednesday replaced an exhibit on slavery at the site of President George Washington\u2019s home in Philadelphia with a version that historians […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-139287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139287"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139318,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139287\/revisions\/139318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139287"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=139287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}