Decide accuses the US authorities of making an attempt to rewrite historical past by taking down the exhibit within the metropolis of Philadelphia.
Printed On 17 Feb 2026
A decide in the US has ordered the Nationwide Park Service (NPS) to revive an exhibit about 9 individuals who have been enslaved by former President George Washington at a historic website within the metropolis of Philadelphia.
The ruling on Monday got here after Philadelphia sued President Donald Trump’s administration over the takedown of a number of explanatory panels on the Independence Nationwide Historic Park, the positioning the place Washington lived along with his spouse within the 1790s.
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The removing got here in response to a Trump govt order to revive “reality and sanity to American historical past” on the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks. It directed the Inside Division to make sure the websites don’t show components that “inappropriately disparage Individuals previous or residing”.
US District Decide Cynthia Rufe dominated that each one supplies should be restored of their unique situation whereas the lawsuit difficult the removing’s legality performs out. She prohibited Trump officers from putting in replacements that designate the historical past in a different way.
In her scathing 40-page determination, Rufe accused the federal authorities of making an attempt to erase US historical past, very like the fictional authoritarian regime that dominated George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.
“As if the Ministry of Reality in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Power,’ this Courtroom is now requested to find out whether or not the federal authorities has the facility it claims – to dissemble and disassemble historic truths when it has some area over historic information,” Rufe wrote. “It doesn’t.”
Rufe had warned Trump administration attorneys throughout a listening to in January that they have been making “harmful” and “horrifying” statements after they mentioned authorities officers might select which elements of US historical past to show at NPS websites.
There was no instant remark from the Trump administration.
The historic website is amongst a number of the place the Trump administration has quietly eliminated content material concerning the historical past of enslaved individuals and Native Individuals. This included signage on the Grand Canyon Nationwide Park, which mentioned settlers pushed Native American tribes “off their land” for the park to be established and “exploited” the panorama for mining and grazing.
Trump’s orders have additionally led to the restoration of Accomplice statues and different strikes that civil rights advocates say might reverse a long time of social progress and undermine the acknowledgment of crucial phases of US historical past.
The Philadelphia exhibit, created 20 years in the past in a partnership between the town and federal officers, included biographical particulars about every of the 9 individuals enslaved by the Washingtons on the house, together with two who escaped.
A number of native politicians and Black neighborhood leaders celebrated the ruling, which got here whereas many have been out rallying on the website for its restoration.
State Consultant Malcolm Kenyatta, a Philadelphia Democrat, mentioned the neighborhood had prevailed towards an try by the Trump administration to “whitewash our historical past”.
“Philadelphians fought again, and I couldn’t be extra happy with how we stood collectively,” he mentioned.
State Consultant Brendan Boyle, who additionally represents Philadelphia, welcomed the ruling.
“I’m happy with our nation and its founding beliefs. Meaning we inform the total reality about our historical past, the great and the unhealthy,” he mentioned.
