PHILADELPHIA — Black elected officials across Philadelphia are forcefully condemning the Trump administration following the removal of slavery-related exhibits at the President’s House Site in Independence National Historical Park, calling the move a deliberate attempt to erase Black history and distort the nation’s founding narrative.
The removal, carried out by the National Park Service under the direction of President Donald Trump’s administration, has sparked outrage among local leaders and prompted legal action by the City of Philadelphia.

The exhibits documented the lives of the nine enslaved Africans held by George Washington while serving as the nation’s first president—stories long fought for by historians, community advocates, and descendants.

State Rep. Chris Rabb issued one of the strongest rebukes, describing the action as “an attack on truth itself.” Rabb warned that manipulating public memory is a defining feature of authoritarianism and said the effort to erase Black suffering, resistance, and achievement amounts to “ideological violence.”
“When a government manipulates historical memory, it is not simply revising the past,” Rabb said. “It is attempting to dictate the moral horizon of the future.”
U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans called the removal a “shameful desecration,” saying it raises disturbing questions about abuse of federal power. Evans emphasized that “true patriotism requires facing our nation’s past—and learning from it,” and publicly voiced support for the City of Philadelphia’s lawsuit to restore the exhibit.

At the city level, Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said the removal is “totally unacceptable,” stressing that “history cannot be erased simply because it is uncomfortable.” Johnson reaffirmed City Council’s commitment to preserving the Slavery Memorial at the President’s House and noted that Council recently honored the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition and its founder, Michael Coard, Esq., on the 15th anniversary of the site’s opening.

Philadelphia City Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson said she was “deeply disturbed” by the National Park Service’s actions, stating that the decision “tramples the tireless work of Philadelphians who fought to ensure that the history of the nine people enslaved by George Washington during the nation’s founding was told accurately and honestly.”

Gilmore Richardson warned that the exhibit’s removal reflects a broader pattern of racist and divisive actions, linking it to the Trump administration’s broader agenda. “Despite denying it on the campaign trail, Donald Trump and his administration are now carrying out Project 2025 in full,” she said. “In a year when Philadelphia will stand on the world stage to mark America’s 250th Anniversary, we have a duty to defend truth, not deny it.”

Amid public criticism suggesting the city had not responded forcefully enough, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has taken concrete action. Under her administration, the City of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, National Park Service officials, and federal authorities, seeking to halt the removal and restore the exhibits.
The lawsuit places Philadelphia formally on record against federal efforts to censor or whitewash history and aligns the city with community advocates, historians, and elected officials who have spent decades fighting for public acknowledgment of slavery at the site.

As Philadelphia prepares to take center stage during America’s 250th Anniversary celebrations, local leaders say the moment demands honesty, accountability, and full historical representation—not selective memory.
“Black history is American history,” multiple officials stressed. And as this latest controversy makes clear, Philadelphia’s leaders say they will continue to defend that truth—through public condemnation, legislative action, and the courts.
Philadelphia, they insist, will not allow history to be erased.