{"id":1020712,"date":"2026-08-24T09:57:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T09:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1020712\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T09:57:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T09:57:29","slug":"slavery-commiseration-planned-at-presidents-house-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1020712\/","title":{"rendered":"Slavery commiseration planned at President\u2019s House site"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This week, members of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition will gather at the President\u2019s House site on Independence Mall for the group\u2019s 24th annual Slavery Commiseration.<\/p>\n

The event Tuesday at 4 p.m. \u201cserves as a solemn remembrance of those whose forced labor helped build the United States while also renewing the public\u2019s commitment to truth, justice, and historical accuracy,\u201d the group\u2019s announcement says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The date marks the August 25, 1619 anniversary of the first documented enslaved Africans arriving in America when it was still a British colony.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people gathered for the group\u2019s event in 2019<\/a>, which marked the 400th anniversary of the arrival of slavery on U.S. shores.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event will take on extra significance due to changes made this year by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration to alter the way the story of slavery is told at the site where George Washington once held nine enslaved individuals.<\/p>\n

The site has been the subject of controversy over the past year<\/a> advocates from the coalition and the city itself have fought against the administration\u2019s efforts to change the signage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is a lot of history to understand throughout the months-long legal battle. We put together a timeline to show you how it has unfolded and where we are now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Workers remove signs from the President\u2019s House exhibit on Independence Mall. (Emma Lee\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

How did it start?\u00a0<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump signed an executive order<\/a> in 2025 intended to \u201crestore truth and sanity to American history\u201d by ordering federal historic sites<\/a> to remove or change displays<\/a> that \u201cdisparage Americans past or living.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It called for these sites to instead<\/a> \u201cshowcase the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Trump administration flagged several sites<\/a> in Philadelphia for review mid-last year. This included Philadelphia\u2019s President\u2019s House exhibit on Independence Mall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The exhibit was titled \u201cThe President\u2019s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,\u201d<\/a> and it gave info about the nine enslaved people<\/a> that then-president Geroge Washington brought with him to his Philadelphia residence and Washington\u2019s ties to slavery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On January 22 of this year, members of the National Park Service came by to take off the placards<\/a> that had this slavery information. Philadelphia sued the U.S. Department of the Interior and the park service that same day.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Hundreds rally at the President\u2019s House on Independence Mall to protest the removal of an exhibit about the people enslaved by George Washington at the nation\u2019s first White House. (Emma Lee\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

Advocates, city fight for restoration\u00a0<\/p>\n

Throughout the battle, thousands of people,<\/a> including faith leaders and state and city officials, rallied against the changes. Other institutions throughout the city,<\/a> including museums and churches, have also been dedicated to telling the stories of African American history<\/a> throughout the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s fight was more complicated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Monday, February 16, a federal judge ruled<\/a> that the Trump administration must restore the slavery exhibits at the President\u2019s House Site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, February 18, U.S. District Court Judge Cynthia Rufe issued a preliminary injunction<\/a> requiring the panels to be restored by 5 p.m. that Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And on Thursday, February 19, workers began putting<\/a> the slavery exhibit back up and they were eventually partially restored.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Hundreds rally at the President\u2019s House on Independence Mall to protest the removal of an exhibit about the people enslaved by George Washington at the nation\u2019s first White House. (Emma Lee\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

Trump admin maintains push for changes\u00a0<\/p>\n

In April, the National Park Service released digital images<\/a> of new panels it intended to use to replace the ones at the President\u2019s House exhibit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Advocates for the site said<\/a> the new exhibit would \u201csoften and significantly reduce references to slavery\u201d and shift the focus toward \u201canti-slavery sentiments\u201d of slave-owning Founding Fathers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following this, a federal appeals court ordered the government to preserve the site as is \u2013 blocking the National Park Service from replacing the panels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Workers restore panels to the slavery exhibits at the President\u2019s House Site on Independence Mall on Thursday. (Eric Nixon\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

The fight continued on Thursday, June 18, when a federal appeals court ruled<\/a> that the Trump administration can replace the slavery exhibit at the President\u2019s House site. The ruling essentially discarded the prior February injunction to restore the site \u2013 and called Trump\u2019s replacement panels \u201cfull of historical context.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Throughout the months-long battle, some taped large reproductions<\/a> of the missing panels onto the exhibit and continued to fight for the site\u2019s restoration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Park workers officially put up Trump\u2019s replacement panels<\/a> overnight on Tuesday, July 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new exhibit<\/a> does contain references to slavery and those enslaved by George Washington, but it softens the former president\u2019s views on slavery and puts more emphasis on the history of the executive mansion and early presidency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A park policeman stands guard over newly installed panels at the President\u2019s House historic site on Independence Mall. \u201dCelebrating Independence Throughout the Years\u201d has replaced \u201dThe Dirty Business of Slavery.\u201d (Emma Lee\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

Where are we now?<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the city asked an appeals court<\/a> for a review of the ruling.<\/p>\n

The petition asks<\/a> three judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit who decided the case to rehear it, or for an en banc review before the full court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Time will tell what will happen with the exhibit, but for now, Trump\u2019s updated panels remain.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. This week,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1020713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,25417,132551,407,1322,472,32670,408404,1448,2830,1311,80,132553,4352,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1020712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-america-250","tag-avenging-the-ancestors-coalition","tag-education","tag-featured","tag-history","tag-independence-mall","tag-national-parks-service","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-politics","tag-presidents-house","tag-trump-administration","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117149896201516866","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1020712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1020712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1020712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1020712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}