Court clears way for Trump admin to ‘immediately’ replace slavery exhibit in Philly
On the eve of America’s 250th birthday, an appeals court cleared the way for the Trump administration to renew the slavery exhibit at the President’s House in Philadelphia; It “whitewashes” the history and brutality of slavery, critics say.
President Donald Trump has claimed on social media in the past that institutions “across the country” are focusing too much on “how bad Slavery was” rather than focusing on the country’s “success” and “shine.”
On Friday morning, an appeals court issued an order finalizing its June 18 ruling that the Trump administration could remove and replace information display panels on the slavery monument at the President’s House in Philadelphia, the nation’s first executive mansion where President George Washington enslaved nine men and women.
The mandate was requested by the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Thursday in a motion calling for the panels to be replaced “immediately”.
“The President’s House is an important national historic site, and the Government asserts that the President’s House exhibits should be fully installed without further delay,” the motion states. It is said.
Matt Rourke/AP, FILE – PHOTO: In this Feb. 10, 2026 file photo, demonstrators gather at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia to protest the removal of interpretive panels that were part of an exhibit on slavery.
The Interior Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request Friday when asked if the panels would be moved this weekend for the Fourth of July holiday.
The June 18 appeals court decision stems from a federal lawsuit filed in January by the city of Philadelphia against the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service seeking to protect the slavery monument.
National Parks Service – PHOTO: This photo released by the National Parks Service shows the Presidential Home Site in Philadelphia.
The city of Philadelphia filed a motion Friday afternoon to appeal the court’s decision, arguing that the court erred in granting jurisdiction by not giving the city enough time to respond to the federal government’s motion on Thursday.
ABC News reached out to the city of Philadelphia but did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What can change?
The monument, which opened to the public in December 2010 after a broad coalition of advocates, historians and public officials came together to create it, was removed without notice by the Trump administration in January and partially restored in February following a ruling by a federal judge.
The panels share the stories of the good people who were enslaved in the region by Washington, and now only 16 of the 34 are still standing. The Trump administration is trying to replace the original panels with new messages posted on the National Park Service website in April. A federal judge’s injunction initially ordered Trump to maintain the “status quo” at the exhibit, but an appeals court ruling in June vacated that order.
“What Trump wants to do and plans to do is literally whitewash and censor the site,” said Philadelphia attorney Michael Coard, founder of Avenging the Ancestor’s Coalition, a group Coard founded in 2002 to launch a movement to persuade Philadelphia to build the slavery monument.
STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images – PHOTO: Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington, painted in 1803.
In making her case, Coard noted the proposal to remove images showing enslaved Black men being beaten and shot.
He also noted what he called “two glaring examples” at the National Park Service. website They are “blatantly racially offensive” because they seek to downplay the seriousness of slavery and Washington’s role in it.
“One [of the panels] “He argues that slavery at the Presidential House in Philadelphia under George Washington wasn’t that bad because the Black people enslaved there had ‘a modicum of autonomy,'” Coard said.
Coard also noted new proposed language that emphasizes Washington’s “discomfort” with slavery, even though he enslaved hundreds of men, women and children.
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Hannah Beier/Reuters, FILE – PHOTO: In this Feb. 19, 2026 file photo, Michael Coard speaks after National Park Service workers reinstalled a slavery exhibit at the President’s House following a U.S. judge’s order to restore it in Philadelphia.
“The second point, in terms of concrete examples, captures the language on the website so well that George Washington was not actually a cruel slave master because he was ‘uncomfortable’ with the issue of slavery,” Coard said.
“Now, how can you make that point? Because the fact is, he enslaved 316 Black men, women, and children at Mount Vernon. If he was ill, what do you think was wrong with them?”
An Interior Department spokesperson told ABC News that the removal and planned replacement of the panels is in compliance with President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity in American History.”
The order called for the removal of “negative” and “divisive” materials from national parks and content that “degrades” Americans, living or dead.
Matt Rourke/AP, FILE – PHOTO: In an Aug. 19, 2025, file photo of people passing an information panel at the Presidential Home Site in Philadelphia.
The proposed new panels underscore the administration’s commitment to “celebrating and acknowledging the full breadth of our nation’s history,” the spokesman said.
Coard said what happens at the President’s House could have a far-reaching impact on the country as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
“The President’s House has basically become a test case, almost like the canary in the coal mine,” Coard said in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday. “They want to see what the Trump administration can do with this, and if they can destroy it, [can] Destroy similar sites across the country.”
