The future of more than a dozen slavery displays at Independence Park remains in limbo as Trump’s review deadline passes
The National Park Service was supposed to notify impacted parks by Aug. 18
The fate of displays about slavery at Independence National Historical Park is still up in the air.
National parks were supposed to be given further instructions about content flagged by National Park Service staff for the Trump administration’s review by Aug. 18, according to an internal Park Service memo reviewed by The Inquirer. President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum specifically wanted to review content that would “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living,” with that material potentially slated for removal next month.
But it remains unclear what will happen to more than a dozen displays flagged for review at Independence Park, including several at the President’s House Site, which serves as a memorial to the nine people President George Washington enslaved there during the founding of America.
An NPS spokesperson for Independence Park did not respond to The Inquirer’s request for comment Monday, the day the next steps were expected.
All interpretative signage was still under review as of Friday, an Independence Park spokesperson said last week, relaying communication from the Park Service national office.
“Interpretive materials that disproportionately emphasize negative aspects of U.S. history or historical figures, without acknowledging broader context or national progress, can unintentionally distort understanding rather than enrich it,” the spokesperson said.
The review comes a year ahead of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, when there is likely to be an influx of tourists to Independence Park and its exhibits.
In addition to the President’s House, content was also flagged in the Benjamin Franklin Museum, the Second Bank of the United States, Independence Hall, an outdoor wayside exhibit panel on Independence Mall, and a proposed redesigned exhibit. Two panels about Edgar Allan Poe’s opposition to the abolitionist movement at the writer’s historic site in Philadelphia were also flagged for review.
The Park Service is also taking into account public feedback that has been gathered through QR codes posted at national parks. At Independence, 13 public comments were submitted via the codes.
The Park Service spokesperson said the agency has “received a wide range of substantive comments from across the country.” These include “compliments on park programs and services, notes on maintenance needs, and suggestions for correcting potential inaccuracies or contextual imbalances.”
Last week, on Aug. 11, an internal Park Service document obtained by The Inquirer said that “notifications of non-compliant media items have started going out to parks and will continue on a rolling basis.”
The document also said that “parks are encouraged to work with their regional office to review next steps for their non-compliant media items” in a “Park Action List” and to refer to a document with guidance on “updating media” from the Park Service’s Harpers Ferry Center for Media Services.
As the public waits to see what will happen with the sites at Independence Park, Philadelphians are preparing to protect these materials.
A group is working to crowdsource exhibits at national parks, including those at Independence Park, and a local preservationist hopes to create a digital rendering of the President’s House.
And Avenging the Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), a Black-led activist group that helped shape the President’s House 23 years ago, is once again strategizing how to protect this historic site.
ATAC held a strategy meeting for the public on Zoom on Aug. 11 — a little more than a week after holding a rally by the President’s House Site on Aug. 2 — and the group’s leader, Michael Coard, said “strategic activism” is key.
“I know people want to yell. I know they want to scream. I know they want to go off. All that’s good on its place, but the keyword here is strategy,” Coard said.