National Park Service removes slavery panels from President’s House site

Workers dismantled and removed outdoor interpretive panels and related signage about slavery from the President’s House Site at Independence National Historical Park in Old City Philadelphia on Jan. 22, 2026. The panels, installed when the site opened in 2010, documented George Washington’s ownership of enslaved people and memorialized nine individuals held at the house: Austin, Christopher Sheels, Giles, Hercules, Joe Richardson, Moll, Oney Judge, Paris and Richmond.

Photographs and video showed crews taking down boards and panels; some footage captured workers using crowbars to pry signs from walls and a brick surface where panels had been affixed. The outdoor exhibit, listed on the park’s website as "Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation" as recently as Thursday afternoon, included biographies and brief stories meant to center the lives and forced labor of the enslaved people who lived and worked at the presidential residence.

The removals drew swift legal and civic pushback. The city of Philadelphia filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday against the Department of the Interior and the acting director of the National Park Service seeking a preliminary injunction to restore the exhibits. The complaint says the NPS removed artwork and informational displays referencing slavery without notice and calls the action "arbitrary and capricious." City officials say they were not informed before crews pulled the panels.

Local leaders and preservation advocates framed the removal as an attempted erasure of uncomfortable history. Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said removing the exhibits is "an effort to whitewash American history," and added, "History cannot be erased simply because it is uncomfortable. Removing items from the President’s House merely changes the landscape, not the historical record." U.S. Representative Brendan Boyle, whose district includes part of the site, condemned the decision. Preservation groups noted that the President’s House Site has been one of the few federal historic locations to explicitly confront the presence of enslaved people in the formation of the republic.

Multiple reports have linked the dismantling to a White House-directed review of federal agencies aimed at curbing what the administration calls "ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives" in government programs and museums. Accounts differ about the directive’s formal title and signing date; some descriptions reference an executive order framed as restoring a particular historical narrative, while others identify it by number. Interior Department and NPS officials did not immediately provide a public explanation for the removals.

Advocacy groups and community organizations vowed further action. Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, said the decision "appears to be made because the President’s House Site memorialized the nine enslaved individuals that were held there against their will by President Washington and his wife Martha," and highlighted the site's unique role in federally funded remembrance of slavery. Michael Coard, founder of Avenging The Ancestors Coalition, said his group planned to announce "powerful action shortly." The Black Journey, which conducts Black-history walking tours, posted that "Just because Trump ordered the panels taken down doesn’t erase the history. The truth still lives here."

The removals have raised broader questions about federal stewardship of history, civic trust, and the role of public memorialization in addressing racial injustice. The lawsuit seeks immediate judicial relief to restore the panels while the city challenges the Interior Department’s authority to remove the displays. The Interior Department and the National Park Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.