| | by admin | | posted on 4th August 2025 in Power to Protest | | views 38 | |
A protest in Philadelphia has challenged the Trump administration’s attempt to rewrite how slavery is remembered in national historic sites.
In early August 2025, more than one hundred people gathered at Independence National Historical Park to speak out against a federal review targeting slavery-related exhibits. The protest was a direct response to a Trump executive order issued in March, which instructed the Department of the Interior to revise or remove interpretive displays that “disparage the legacy of the American founding.” Protesters view the move as part of a broader ideological campaign to suppress uncomfortable truths about the nation’s history of racial injustice.
The federal directive has placed numerous interpretive displays under scrutiny, particularly those that present slavery as an integral part of early American life. Among those flagged are the panels at the President’s House Site—an open-air memorial on the site where George Washington lived while enslaving at least nine people during his presidency. These panels tell the stories of individuals such as Oney Judge and Hercules, who resisted their captivity by escaping to freedom.
Also under review are exhibits at Independence Hall, the Benjamin Franklin Museum, and the Second Bank of the United States. These displays explore how the institution of slavery shaped political and economic life in Philadelphia and the wider colonies. One panel, titled The Dirty Business of Slavery, links the prosperity of the early republic to the exploitation of enslaved labor.
The review process itself has caused alarm among historians and educators. Park employees were asked to identify potentially non-compliant content by mid-July, with no public consultation. Critics argue that the process amounts to censorship under the guise of patriotic restoration. Many fear the move could create a chilling effect across the National Park Service and other institutions preparing for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.
The August 2 protest was organised by a coalition of faith leaders, educators, students, and community groups. They gathered at the Liberty Bell, just metres from the contested exhibits, to deliver speeches, share personal testimonies, and display placards reading 'History Uncensored', 'Truth Matters', and 'We Are Still Watching'.
Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, a leading voice in the campaign, addressed the crowd with a message of historical fidelity. “Telling the full story of this nation is not a betrayal,” he said. “It’s a commitment to justice.” Tyler challenged the notion that slavery’s inclusion in public history undermines patriotism, arguing that to omit these stories is to dishonour both the enslaved and the ideals of freedom.
Roz McPherson, the former executive director of the African American Museum in Philadelphia and project leader for the President’s House interpretation, described the current review as an affront to years of careful, community-led historical work. “These stories were hard-won,” she told reporters. “They reflect decades of advocacy by Black historians and local families whose ancestors were denied visibility for generations.”
Several protesters spoke from a megaphone about the importance of intergenerational truth-telling. One teenager, part of a local youth history programme, said: “I didn’t learn about Oney Judge in school. I learned about her here. That matters.”
This protest did not emerge in isolation. It forms part of a broader wave of public resistance to what activists describe as state-sponsored historical erasure. In June, tens of thousands joined the No Kings rally on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, opposing authoritarianism and calling for democratic renewal. That event, while wider in scope, echoed similar themes: resistance to political overreach, defence of public memory, and the rejection of selective nostalgia.
Nationally, efforts to control or rewrite historical narratives have grown more coordinated. Several states have passed laws limiting how race, slavery, and colonialism are taught in schools. Public monuments have become battlegrounds. The federal executive order reviewed in Philadelphia is seen by many as an extension of this strategy—reaching now into the museums and historic parks that shape how millions of visitors understand American origins.
Philadelphia, as the symbolic birthplace of the United States, holds special weight in these debates. What is preserved or erased here may well shape the tone of the nation’s semiquincentennial celebrations.
At stake is not simply a set of museum panels but the meaning of national memory itself. For protesters, the Trump administration’s order represents an attempt to sanitise history for political gain—flattening a complex past into a one-dimensional celebration of greatness. The concern is that such revisions will not only dishonour the memory of the enslaved but also obscure the lessons that history offers for today’s struggles for racial justice.
As 2026 approaches, cities like Philadelphia will be at the centre of how the American story is retold. Those who gathered to protest this August sent a clear message: true patriotism is rooted in honesty, and freedom rings louder when the full story is told.