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PHILADELPHIA ‒ A National Park Service display honoring enslaved people owned by George Washington was dismantled Jan. 22 by federal workers acting on President Donald Trump's orders.

The President's House parcel at 6th and Market streets is where Washington lived during a time when Philadelphia was the U.S. capital, and records show that he kept enslaved people there.

"There is only one federal government site in the country where there's a documented history of enslaved Black people," Michael Coard, a lawyer and activist who had fought for acknowledgement of the nine people who were kept at the home, told USA TODAY on Jan. 22.

While park officials said the exhibit was being renovated for the nation's upcoming 250th anniversary celebrations this summer, a spokesperson for the National Park Service referred to Trump's 2025 executive order calling for the removal of exhibits that denigrate American greatness.

Philadelphia city officials have sued to halt the renovations, which they say are being improperly conducted without required public consultations.

Erasing history or celebrating successes?

The move comes during a nationwide debate over exactly what portions of American history should be highlighted or downplayed. Civil rights groups have been warning since the 2024 election that Trump would seek to remove signs and displays that highlight racial inequality.

Trump has argued that too much teaching of American history focuses on the country's failures and not its successes.

The Philadelphia removal is the latest example from National Park Service sites across the country where certain displays about racial or gender inequality have been taken down.

In response to an executive order Trump signed last March, entitled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," White House officials ordered park staff nationally to review all displays, and posted signs asking the public to flag displays that portrayed Americans in a negative light, or failed to appropriately celebrate the grandeur and beauty of national places.

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"The President has directed federal agencies to review interpretive materials to ensure accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values," the National Park Service said in response to a question from USA TODAY about why the Philadelphia materials were taken down. "Following completion of the required review, the National Park Service is now taking action to remove or revise interpretive materials in accordance with the Order."

The changes to the park sites come as the nation prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding; many of the core celebrations will be staged in and around Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Seeing history in action

Miranda Thompson brought her students from nearby Constitution High School to the President's House on the chilly late morning of Jan. 23.

"This wasn't in my lesson plan," the advanced placement art teacher admitted. "But when I found out about this, I had to bring them here."

At the site a day after the removal, Thompson stood in front of a stone wall with the names of the enslaved residents etched into it. A few flower bouquets lay at the base of the wall.

"We have to keep choosing democracy and diversity," said Thompson, a teacher for 28 years and a Philadelphia native. "It's one thing to learn from a book, but it's another thing to see (history) in action."

'This doesn't make the history go away'

Logan McLaughlin, 16, called the removal of the signs "disgusting."

"We need to build a better society, and to do that, we need to know about it at its worst," said the sophomore, who lives nearby. "It can be uncomfortable to learn about (slavery), but we should learn the bad and the good."

Jim Nicholson, who spoke about his Quaker faith and hopes for some form of divine intervention, said the removal "was a line that was crossed, and it's not OK. And we should not let anyone think this is OK."

One woman grew very emotional when she saw the spaces where historical plaques had been, the adhesive that held them in place still snaking across the empty metal.

"I am profoundly frightened by this," said retired educator Cindy Hersh, tears on her cheeks. "And profoundly frightened that there are people who think this is OK. This doesn't make the history go away."

Displays' fate is unclear

Coard said that while he wasn't surprised at the removal, which had been threatened for months, he wasn't sure why it happened now.

Coard wasn't at the site when workers began taking down signs and other displays, but Mijuel Johnson, another member of his Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, was. Johnson asked the workers as they loaded signs onto a truck where they were taking them, but they would say only that the signs would be taken to a secure location, according to Coard.

Several months ago, Coard and other activists, preservationists, historians and architects began formulating plans in case the administration acted on the executive order's September deadline.

What is the President's House? Activists vow to protect display on George Washington's ties to slavery

Legal action underway

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration filed suit in federal court on Jan. 22 against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron, calling the removal of the displays about slavery unlawful, "arbitrary and capricious."

A 2006 agreement between the federal government and the city requires advance notice of any changes to the park property, according to the suit.

Speaking late on Jan. 22, Coard said he was aware the city had filed suit and appreciated that it would devote resources to the cause.

"I give major kudos to the city to save not just Black history, but American history," he said. "Our laser focus will be to save the site."

He worries what might become of the materials that were at the President's House.

"There's no way" the materials should be destroyed, both because of their important information and because they're now potentially evidence in a lawsuit, Coard said. "But with this administration anything could happen. Tomorrow, it could all be torn down," including a wall with the names of the enslaved people kept at the home etched into the stone.

Still, Coard said, "we are pursuing every legal option, and there is still a lot we can do."

'Slavery was real'

Many of the President's House's physical features remain: The wall with the enslaved people's names; a plaque dedicating the memorial and the agreement between the City of Philadelphia and the National Park Service with a quote from former President Barack Obama; a wood installation with quotes from Frederick Douglass and Maya Angelou; even the video screens that once showed reenactors discussing life for enslaved and free Black people in 18th century Philadelphia, now dark and silent.

But how long that will be the case is unclear. The site is in one of the most visible spots in the city: right in front of Independence Hall (currently closed for renovations) and across the street from the National Constitution Center. Banners touting America250 ‒ a celebration in which Philadelphia will play a central role ‒ are on every street light.

As people wove in and out of the outdoor site or hustled by on their way to work or school, many stopped to express surprise and anger at how it now looks. Some even left notes, including one that said, "Slavery was real."

Attached to it on a Post-It, in this city where the American rejection of tyranny and oppression was first codified: "Philly hates fascists."