The President’s House has been named an endangered historic site. A Philly org is getting $25K to help keep it alive.

The President’s House Site on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall is one of the 11 most endangered historic sites in the United States due to President Donald Trump’s administration’s targeting of the exhibit, according to a new list from a major historic preservation organization.

Produced annually by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the “11 Most Endangered” list aims to bring widespread awareness and visibility to various historic sites throughout the country that are in jeopardy. The sites on this year’s list were selected by the organization’s staff and are related to the 250th anniversary of the United States and the ideals associated with the nation’s founding.

“It’s a really powerful and important part of educating ourselves to be citizens who can live up to the ideals that we’re celebrating in the 250th,” said Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in an interview at the President’s House last month.

Designating the site at Sixth and Market Streets, which memorializes the nine people enslaved by George Washington at his Philadelphia residence, as endangered is notable given the Trump administration dismantled the exhibit in January before some of it was reinstalled a month later following a federal judge’s order.

The administration is also continuing its legal attempts to drastically change the site ahead of the celebrations in Philadelphia this summer.

“This place exemplifies that tension and also the threat of erasure, which comes when the government dictates what any site can say, but also when the process of freedom of inquiry is interrupted,” Quillen said.

The President’s House is the only site on the list from Pennsylvania.

For the first time, the National Historic Trust for Preservation is also providing a one-time grant to endangered sites’ community partners. For the President’s House, that means the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia is getting a $25,000 grant to produce a mobile digital exhibit, established near the President’s House, ahead of this summer’s 250th celebrations.

It will screen a continuously looped documentary about the exhibit’s historical importance, the recent targeting of the site, and community stakeholders’ advocacy to protect it.

The Preservation Alliance is part of the President’s House/Slavery Memorial Alliance, which includes the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, a Black-led advocacy group that helped develop the President’s House in the early 2000s.

The group has been relentless in defending the site from the Trump administration’s attempts to rewrite history after the president issued an executive order last year to review and potentially remove exhibits from national parks that “inappropriately disparage” Americans.

Roz McPherson, who helped develop the President’s House in the early 2000s and coordinated the current President’s House/Slavery Memorial Alliance, said in a statement that being selected for this list is “a critically important honor.”

“The recent attempts at erasure have called attention to the fact that Black history now has more support from a more culturally diverse and informed public than ever and that has caused our efforts to expand the story with new exhibits and programming throughout the region,” she said.

Walking through the President’s House on a breezy day last month, Quillen observed the multicolored illustrations telling the story of Ona Judge or the brutality of the Fugitive Slave Act. Nearby are large patches of brick walls where informational text panels used to be.

Reinstalling the text displays is on hold pending litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Third Circuit after the Trump administration appealed a federal judge’s ruling to restore all the exhibits. National Park Service employees reinstated most of the illustration panels until an appeals judge ordered them to pause.

In lieu of the signs, Philadelphians have displayed artwork on the bare walls as a tribute to the significance of the President’s House.

“It makes me sad that exhibitions that scholars and community groups worked hard to produce are now warehoused and not able to be seen by a public that deserves to see them,” Quillen said.

The site’s designation as endangered is underscored by the Trump administration revealing its vision for how it would change the President’s House, The Inquirer reported last month. Digital renderings showed that the federal government intended to significantly reframe and dilute George Washington’s role as an enslaver.

The other sites designated as endangered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation are:

Quillen agrees with many President’s House stakeholders who argue that the original exhibits are highly relevant to the location of the site — just steps away from the Liberty Bell Center. Any adjustments to location or content would be detrimental, they say, to truly understanding the exhibit.

While the fate of the President’s House plays out in court, Quillen is certain that Trump’s executive order aiming to target content that disparages Americans does the opposite by stripping visitors of educational materials.

“There’s no greater way of disparaging Americans than erasing their existence or history,” she said.