A Massachusetts federal judge issued a court order Friday requiring the Trump administration to reinstate museum displays and park exhibits that were eliminated following an executive directive aimed at preventing the nation’s cultural sites from showing materials that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley’s preliminary injunction also halts any further modifications, stating that plaintiffs demonstrated these actions attempt “to rewrite the Nation’s history with a white-out pen.”
“History cannot be faithfully told while excluding the experiences of communities whose contributions, struggles, and achievements form an important part of our Nation’s story,” the judge stated.
The court also mandated that the Trump administration submit weekly status updates detailing their progress on reversing these modifications.
“Under the guise of promoting American dignity, this Administration seeks to share a limited history by ordering the removal of all signs, displays, and interpretive exhibits at National Parks that do not align with its preferred narrative, thereby telling half-truths,” Kelley stated in her ruling.
The decision responds to a February legal challenge brought by conservation and historical organizations targeting National Park Service policies that allegedly forced park personnel to eliminate or modify numerous exhibits containing factually correct and pertinent U.S. history and scientific information, including materials about slavery and climate change.
Numerous modifications occurred at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, where the administration eliminated displays about nine individuals who were enslaved at the location during the 1790s under George Washington, the first U.S. president. Additional changes involved removing signage at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona that described basalt bubbles because it featured an image of a visitor with a Pride flag, while labor history films were taken down from the Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts.
President Donald Trump enacted the executive order “restoring truth and sanity to American history” at the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks last year. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum subsequently directed the elimination of “improper partisan ideology” from museums, monuments, landmarks and other public displays under federal oversight.
A request for comment was sent to the Interior Department on Saturday.
Alan Spears, senior director for cultural resources for the National Parks Conservation Association, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit, stated the decision will help shield national parks from the administration’s attempt “to erase history and science at these one-of-a-kind places.”
“National parks belong to the American people and censorship of any kind goes against the values these places represent,” he stated.
Bill Wade, executive director for the Association of National Park Rangers, another organization that filed the lawsuit, called this particularly positive news for National Parks employees who “have prided themselves for being able to provide truthful, accurate and unbiased information.”
