Philly activists rally at Independence Park to protest Trump’s moves to remove exhibits that depict slavery in early America

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More than 100 people gathered Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia’s Old City, just steps away from the Liberty Bell, to defend the integrity of a slavery-focused exhibit at the President’s House Site. They voiced outrage over a federal review process that could remove or revise interpretive content that candidly addresses America’s legacy of slavery.

Roz McPherson, who served as project director during the site’s creation, told WHYY News the exhibit was a “missing part of history.”

“This site is an opportunity to tell the complex stories of people who were both free and enslaved, the folks who were allies, what people did to seek their freedom and how George Washington illegally transported his people back and forth every six months so that they could not petition for their freedom,” she said.

The rally was in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order, which directs the Department of the Interior to identify and remove national parks exhibits that “disparage” America or its founders.

The Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, who serves Historiographer and Executive Director of Research and Scholarship of the AME Church and is the former pastor of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, refuted the idea that the exhibits at The President’s House Site unfairly “disparages” the founding fathers.

“We don’t have to knock someone down by telling the truth about who they are,” he said. “Everyone is a complicated person, even the founding fathers of our country. And so we want to make sure that the real truth is told and that we don’t do a disservice to the ancestors, the enslaved who lived here.

McPherson said that she believed Washington himself would not support the current president’s actions.

“I think he would be conflicted,” she said, adding “I think that he would feel bad about Trump’s decision based on ignorance, not strategy.”

Federal documents obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Times show the National Park Service has identified 13 total exhibits for possible revision or removal, including “Life Under Slavery” and “The Dirty Business of Slavery” at the President’s House Site. Other sites under review include the Benjamin Franklin Museum, Independence Hall and the Second Bank of the United States, as well as a wayside outdoor panel.

The ”Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation” exhibit, which opened in 2010, deeply examines the lives of the enslaved within Washington’s Philadelphia household.

The site is framed by landmarks that include narratives that complicate the story of liberty in the young democracy. “Life Under Slavery” includes information about Richard Allen, who bought his and his family’s freedom, and went on to found Mother Bethel. Another is an illustration of Washington signing the Fugitive Slave Act while a posse attacks Black men attempting to escape slavery.

Anthony Wong, a visitor from New Jersey, who was not involved in the protest, said that the exhibits are essential to ensure people like him better understand the country’s real history.

“Any records in general that outline our history is pretty important, even if they were in hindsight bad mistakes,” he said while viewing “The Dirty Business of Slavery” exhibit Saturday. “That’s how you learn. And erasing histories, it’s a sham. It’s just a total disappointment.”

He found it “contradictory” that the Founding Fathers were “writing the Constitution themselves while owning slaves.”

Philadelphia is slated to play a central role in the 2026 celebrations, and the federal government and philanthropies have committed $85 million dollars to renovate park infrastructure. Trump’s executive order also included language directing the Department of the Interior to allocate “sufficient funding” for “restoring” Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia ahead of the 250th anniversary. While much of that is earmarked for repairs and visitor experience upgrades, a significant portion is also meant to support “inclusive storytelling” that reflects the full complexity of American history.

Participants in Saturday’s rally expressed concern that visitors won’t get to know the real history of the country if the exhibits are whitewashed and will, therefore, leave uninformed.

However, Tyler said Philadelphians weren’t giving up and would make sure that visitors still learn the truth.

“If we have to stand out as volunteer docents on the corner, telling people who walked by about what happened on this site, we’re going to make sure this story is told,” he said. “African Americans haven’t always had these wonderful memorials, and so we know how to make sure that we tell our story with or without it.