PHILADELPHIA — The Trump Administration has made good on its promise to replace and reinstall informational panels about slavery at the historic site of President George Washington’s Philadelphia residence.
The new panels went up Wednesday morning in the same area where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. Critics contend the replacement displays water down the history of slavery compared to the exhibits that had been in place since 2010.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker strongly condemned the move. “Overnight, under the cover of darkness, the federal government removed panels at the President’s House that told a thorough history of Philadelphia,” Parker said Wednesday. “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 original displays, installed in 2010, documented the lives of nine enslaved people who lived in the home alongside George and Martha Washington during the 1790s, when Philadelphia briefly served as the nation’s capital.
Those panels were targeted for revision after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2025 directing federally owned or controlled historic sites to avoid presenting information that would “disparage Americans past or living” and to instead highlight the “greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”
The legal battle over the panels has been ongoing. A lower court ordered the federal government in February to take down the new panels after they had already been put up earlier this year. However, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling on July 3, clearing the way for the installation to move forward.
According to a government website showing images of the updated panels, the new displays will still contain information about the enslaved individuals who lived in the home. They will also cover the abolitionist movement, how slavery was addressed in the Constitution, the end of slavery in Pennsylvania, how Washington and his successor John Adams viewed and handled slavery, and information about the 20th century Civil Rights movement.
However, several elements from the original panels are absent from the new ones, including a map of slave trade routes and a timeline of slavery. The replacement panels also drop pointed headings like “The Dirty Business of Slavery.”
The city of Philadelphia had taken the federal government to court over the removal of content from the earlier panels, arguing that federal officials are required to consult with the city before making changes to the President’s House Site. Justice Department attorneys countered that the administration has sole authority over what stories are told at National Park Service properties.
Mayor Parker announced the city plans to pursue a rehearing on what she called “serious legal issues” raised by the appeals court’s decision.
The Associated Press reached out to the National Park Service for comment on Wednesday but had not received a response.
