‘A first step to fascism’: critics denounce Trump administration replacing slavery exhibit at George Washington’s home

Critics say the Trump administration acted under the “cover of darkness” to replace an exhibit exploring the lives of nine enslaved people who lived at George Washington’s Philadelphia home with a version that is overly sympathetic to enslavers and that whitewashes the country’s origins.

The installation of new information panels followed a six-month fight between the city of Philadelphia and the Trump administration over an enslavement memorial at the former home of Washington and John Adams.

The National Park Service (NPS) removed the original panels on 22 January 2026 to conform with Trump’s executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” issued on 27 March 2025. After the city of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against the federal government, Judge Cynthia M Rufe ordered the original panels to be reinstated on 16 February. NPS then reinstalled half of the exhibit, and the site remained in limbo for several months. The federal government appealed to the US third circuit, which ruled in mid-June that the exhibit could be replaced. On 3 July, a three-judge panel declared that the Trump administration could install new panels.

By the early morning of 15 July, the NPS had replaced the original exhibit – which told the story of the nine enslaved people who served George and Martha Washington in the 1790s, when the US capital temporarily moved to Philadelphia – with new panels the Trump administration contends gives a fuller picture of the nation’s origins.

“Overnight, under the cover of darkness, the federal government removed panels at the President’s House that told a thorough history of Philadelphia,” said Cherelle L Parker, the city’s mayor, in a statement. “It was allowed to do this by the decision of the federal court, but that it did so at night shows it understands this action is shameful, that it violates community trust.”

The removal of the original panels, installed in 2010, comes amid an aggressive effort by Trump to dismantle diversity initiatives, using his executive authority to reshape how federally funded institutions present American history. His executive order directed the interior department to ensure historic sites do not display exhibits that “disparage Americans past or living”, prompting concerns that difficult chapters of US history are being sanitized.

In a statement emailed to the Guardian, a spokesperson for the Department of Interior, which oversees NPS, said that the new panels provided context on the site’s historical significance.

“They acknowledge the evils of slavery, including its injustices and hypocrisies, and, by telling the stories of the nine slaves that Washington kept in the President’s House, remind us of their essential humanity,” the spokesperson said. “The panels also recall the price our nation paid ‘to finish the work that the Founders had begun and end slavery in the United States once and for all.”

The spokesperson added: “Through President Trump, we have encouraged Americans to visit our cultural and historic sites and engage in meaningful conversations about the moments that have shaped our country.”

One of the panels installed by NPS includes a summary of Washington’s position on enslavement, highlighting his unease toward the institution, while another states that enslaved people in the President’s House “experienced a greater modicum of autonomy than elsewhere in the South such as to explore the city and sometimes even attend the theater, with Washington buying the tickets”.

Philadelphia attorney Michael Coard scoffed at the notion that autonomy could be experienced during enslavement. He compared the Trump administration’s actions to the authoritarianism featured in George Orwell’s book 1984.

“People should really be afraid. This is always the first step to fascism,” Coard told the Guardian. “This is bigger than the government removing some panels at a site in Philadelphia. What could theoretically happen if the president doesn’t like the Liberty Bell? So what do you do – you move the Liberty Bell? What if, because of immigration, the president doesn’t like the Statue of Liberty – do we get rid of the Statue of Liberty? This is a slippery slope.”

In 2002, Coard founded Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, which pushed the city of Philadelphia and NPS to open the enslavement memorial eight years later.

The city still has some legal options, Coard said, including seeking reconsideration from a 14-member third circuit court, or to file an appeal to the US supreme court. “Simply because he came in like a thief in the night and put up new panels,” Coard said, “doesn’t mean that a court can’t remove those mythological panels.”

Matt Hall, a Temple University professor who founded the grassroots group Old City Remembers, told the Guardian that he was disheartened by the replacement, but that he would continue to ensure that history is preserved. In February, Hall created Old City Remembers to share the original panels’ text with visitors at the President’s House. More than 100 volunteers altogether have stood at the site with informational packets in recent months.

“Now is not the time to roll over and let them get away with rewriting the history in the way that they think it should be,” said Hall. “Our volunteer community is going to continue to come out and give visitors to the site the opportunity to learn what the original text was, the opportunity to think about how that is different from what they’re being told now, to think about why a particular government might want to present the history in a certain way or might not want to present that history in a certain way..”

Earlier this year, artist and activist Alyssa Bigbee began volunteering with Avenging the Ancestors to oppose the Trump administration’s actions at the President’s House. She hopes that her activism inspires her 10-year-old son to advocate for truth and justice in the future.

“I’m disgusted that the administration is choosing to hide history, but the truth is, you can’t erase it,” Bigbee said. “If it takes us on the ground educating people about the truth, then so be it. History will remember that we had cowards in office that chose to erase history and brave people who continue to fight against them.”

The Guardian wp:paragraph