City of Philadelphia sues federal government over removal of slavery exhibits

Philadelphians aren’t taking kindly to the removal of historic exhibits at the President’s House at Independence Mall. 

Exhibits mentioning slavery were dismantled by National Park Service workers on Thursday, sparking immediate outcry among city officials about the removal of plaques and displays that were created to memorialize and educate visitors about what 19th-century politician John C. Calhoun called the “peculiar institution.” 

In response, the City of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron over the removal of the artwork.

Michael Coard, a Philadelphia attorney who founded the advocacy group Avenging The Ancestors Coalition, which fought for a slavery memorial at the President’s House for decades, said his organization is planning to announce “powerful action shortly” in response to the removal.

This comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March of 2025 that mandates the need to, in part, “take action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers or similar properties within the Department’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

The order, which specifically mentions Independence National Historical Park and the need for restoration before the semiquincentennial, directs Burgum to “restore parks, monuments, memorials, statues, markers and similar properties that purportedly created a false revision of history or improperly minimize[d] or disparage[d] certain historical figures or events.”

As home to several significant historical sites, Philadelphia is at a crossroads of accountability as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on historic landmarks and signage it deems “disparaging” of the country’s founders and not reflective of “shared national values.”

Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson called the removal unacceptable, saying in a statement, “Removing the exhibits is an effort to whitewash American history. History cannot be erased simply because it is uncomfortable. Removing items from the President's House merely changes the landscape, not the historical record.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro and Mayor Cherelle Parker also spoke out against the move individually. 

“Donald Trump will take any opportunity to rewrite and whitewash our history. But he picked the wrong city – and he sure as hell picked the wrong Commonwealth. We learn from our history in Pennsylvania, even when it’s painful,” Shapiro said in a statement. 

“I can’t allow my pride, ego or emotions to dictate what my actions will be,” said Parker. "That is why my job as mayor is to do my homework. And my homework is grounded in the legal research that our law department will conduct” related to a 2006 cooperative between the City of Philadelphia and the federal government, which calls for the involved parties to meet and confer if there are any changes to be made to any exhibit. The Parker administration said any actions taken outside of the agreement must be reviewed by the city’s law department. 

U.S. Rep Brendan Boyle also weighed in, stating that the country was founded on “telling the full truth about our history, both the good and the bad.”

“With the National Park Service facing budget cuts as our nation prepares for its 250th anniversary, this administration should be strengthening these historic sites, not censoring them to erase the past,” Boyle said in a statement Thursday. “Philadelphia and the entire country deserve an honest accounting of our history, and this effort to hide it is wrong.”

According to the city’s visitor center, the exhibit was housed on the same land where the home of Presidents George Washington and John Adams once stood.

The outdoor exhibit used to show a timeline of slavery in the United States and locally, including the names of nine slaves who worked for Washington and the number of people enslaved in Philadelphia before and after the gradual abolition act of 1780.

“Despite denying it on the campaign trail, Donald Trump and his administration are now carrying out Project 2025 in full, point by point,” Philadelphia City Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson said in a statement Friday, referring to the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint to remake the country according to right-wing desires. “Removing these exhibits adds to a troubling pattern of racist and bigoted actions that sow division, perpetuate hatred, and betray the very values our nation claims to uphold. 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.”