National Park Service staff removed an exhibit about nine slaves that George Washington kept at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia in January 2026. The city of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service over the removal of the exhibit.

The removal followed President Donald Trump's executive order titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History." "Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our nation's history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology, rather than truth," Trump said in the order. "The order directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues and markers focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people and the beauty, abundance and grandeur of the American landscape."

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered a review of historical sites across the country and asked visitors to report any information that may violate the executive order. A judge cited George Orwell's novel 1984 in her opinion and ordered the removed panels to be returned pending the lawsuit.

"We will not be erased. We will not go back in the closet," said Nichole Mallette, a resident. The actions come as the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and Americans have differing perspectives on how to remember the nation's history.

"There's more awareness that we have swung too far, particularly with DEI initiatives," said Brenda Hafera, a scholar at The Heritage Foundation. "That's part of why this administration was elected." Hafera added, "You can distort things in two ways, by overemphasizing and disproportionately focusing on the negative, or you distort things by whitewashing history. And neither of those are acceptable."

The National Park Service spends years developing exhibits and public information at historical sites and enlists experts from various disciplines to make decisions about them. According to Hafera, there were 30 exhibit panels, and 25 of the 30 discussed race and slavery.

"I think it's good that we're having these public deliberations in the public square to ask these questions of what should we become commemorating, what should these look like, what is the proper balance?" Hafera said.