Whitening American History

[Nevilledog]

https://prospect.org/2026/02/23/whitening-america-black-history-trump-slavery-dei-philadelphia/

Philadelphia’s President’s House Site, where Presidents George Washington and John Adams once lived, saw a number of its exhibits red-flagged by the Trump administration in 2025. Six exhibits and 13 specific items within them were pinpointed for review in accordance with Executive Order 14253: “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

All those exhibits focused on slavery—specifically, the nine people whom Washington enslaved while living in Philadelphia.

Passersby were surprised to see National Park Service (NPS) employees abruptly removing these exhibits on January 22. One employee was heard repeatedly saying, “I’m just following orders” from his supervisor. In the span of an hour, all the displays were gone.

Days later, the city of Philadelphia sued the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the NPS, arguing that the federal government violated a cooperative agreement for the site’s development. On February 16, halfway through Black History Month, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ruled against the Trump administration, comparing its rationale for dismantling the exhibit to the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984.

“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims—to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts. It does not,” Rute’s ruling stated.

*snip*