Philadelphia sues Trump administration over removing slavery exhibit

Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over removing an exhibit on slavery from the President’s House site in Independence National Historical Park.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday against the Interior Department, asks the court for a preliminary injunction to keep the displays up, The Hill news outlet reported. The exhibit was removed “without notice” and “presumably pursuant” to President Trump’s executive order to remove signs and exhibits that “contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times),” the lawsuit reads.

“The interpretive displays relating to enslaved persons at President’s House are an integral part of the exhibit and removing them would be a material alteration to the exhibit,” according to the lawsuit.

An Independence Park employee told The Philadelphia Inquirer that his supervisor instructed him to take down all of the signs, saying, “I'm just following my orders.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) posted on X on Thursday, "Donald Trump will take any opportunity to rewrite and whitewash our history. But he picked the wrong city — and he sure as hell picked the wrong Commonwealth. We learn from our history in Pennsylvania, even when it’s painful."

The executive order the lawsuit referred to was signed by Trump last March.

The order calls for historical signs to “focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.”