Studio 2 Extra: Nikole Hannah-Jones on erasing Black history and civil rights
With the slavery exhibit back at Philadelphia’s President’s House, we spoke with Pulitzer winner Nikole Hannah-Jones on why this fight is about more than erased history.
Listen 17:04
A National Park Service employee restores a panel to the slavery exhibit at the President's House site on Independence Mall. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
This week, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore the “Freedom and Slavery” exhibit at the President’s House on Independence Mall. The deadline to comply is today.
On Thursday morning, National Park workers began restoring the glass panels at 6th and Market. By mid-day 16 of the 34 panels were back in place. The exhibit once again tells a fuller story of George Washington’s time in Philadelphia, including the fact that he enslaved nine people while living here.
The National Park Service had dismantled the exhibit on January 21st, to comply with a presidential executive order calling for the removal of federal displays that “disparage” Americans, past or present. The City of Philadelphia sued the same day, setting off a legal battle over how — and whether — this history should be told.
On Thursday afternoon, supporters celebrated the partial restoration as a win — but warned it may be temporary. The Trump administration has appealed the ruling and is asking a higher court to pause restoration of the site pending the appeal.
With all this going on we turned to Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. She says this fight over the panels at the President’s House is not just about erasing uncomfortable history, it’s part of something bigger. Hannah-Jones is the creator of The 1619 Project and the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at Howard University.
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Philadelphia’s slavery exhibit is being restored at the President’s House
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The judge, a President George W. Bush appointee, likened the administration’s rationale for removing the panels to the authoritarian regime in George Orwell’s novel "1984."
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