Trump admin removes memorial honoring people enslaved by George Washington in Philadelphia
The National Park Service began removing a slavery memorial at the President’s House in Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon -- an exhibit that opened in 2010 and honored the lives of the nine people held there who were enslaved by President George Washington.
ABC News Philadelphia station WPVI captured video on Thursday afternoon of NPS staffers taking down boards and panels that told the stories of Austin, Christopher Sheels, Giles, Hercules, Joe Richardson, Moll, Oney Judge, Paris and Richmond.
Michael Coard, a Philadelphia attorney who founded an advocacy group that fought for a slavery memorial at the President’s House for decades, told ABC News that his group, Avenging The Ancestors Coalition, is planning to announce “powerful action shortly” in response to the removal.
The removal of those exhibits was feared and anticipated by advocates like Coard for months after President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered “disparaging” materials to be removed from Independence Hall ahead of America’s 250th birthday -- a directive that was included in Trump’s March 27, 2025, executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order.
The communications office for the U.S. Interior Department, which oversees the National Parks Service, confirmed to ABC News in a statement on Thursday night that by removing the exhibit honoring the nine enslaved people, the Department is complying with the president's executive order:
"The Department of the Interior is implementing Secretary’s Order 3431, which carries out President Donald J Trump’s Executive Order on 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,' the statement said. "The President has directed federal agencies to review interpretive materials to ensure accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values. 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."
Trump's executive order directs Burgum to “restore parks, monuments, memorials, statues, markers and similar properties that purportedly created a false revision of history or improperly minimize[d] or disparage[d] certain historical figures or events.”
The order specifically mentions Independence National Historical Park and directs Burgum to restore it ahead of the U.S.’s 250th birthday celebration next summer.
“The Secretary of the Interior shall provide sufficient funding, as available, to improve the infrastructure of Independence National Historical Park, which shall be complete by July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” the executive order says.
The executive order also criticized Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, which is where the Declaration of Independence was founded, and signaled that some changes could be made.
“At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — where our Nation declared that all men are created equal — the prior administration sponsored training by an organization that advocates dismantling ‘Western foundations’ and ‘interrogating institutional racism’ and pressured National Historical Park rangers that their racial identity should dictate how they convey history to visiting Americans because America is purportedly racist,” the executive order said.
Amid anticipation over what changes the Trump administration could make at Philadelphia's Independence National Historic Park, Coard told ABC News in Oct. 2025 that he feared that the stories of the enslaved people at the President’s House were “especially under threat” and the history of slavery “could be erased.”
Coard said that he formed the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition in 2002 to advocate for the NPS to highlight the history of slavery and after years of steadfast resistance, ATAC helped successfully advocate for the slavery memorial, which opened in 2010.
The President’s House site is part of Independence National Historical Park, also referred to as Independence Hall. "Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation," an outdoor exhibit, features original brick from Washington’s home, which was demolished in 1832, and videos and panels that tell the stories of the people enslaved by Washington who were held there, according to NPS.
Independence Hall has been temporarily closed for “preservation projects” since November 13, 2025, and will remain closed until January 28, 2026, "to enable preservation teams to complete comprehensive interior work to prepare the site for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026,” NPS said.
Asked if the removal of the exhibits was permanent and whether additional changes are coming, NPS did not respond to requests for comment.
As of early Thursday evening, the outdoor exhibit -- “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation” -- was still listed on the NPS’s website and is described as an exhibit that “examines the paradox between slavery and freedom in the founding of the nation.”
The biographies and brief stories of the nine people who were enslaved by Washington were also still listed on the NPS website as of Thursday afternoon.
“The President's house in the 1790s was a mirror of the young republic, reflecting both the ideals and contradictions of the new nation,” the NPS website said. “The house stood in the shadow of Independence Hall, where the words 'All men are created equal' and ‘We the People’ were adopted, but they did not apply to all who lived in the new United States of America.”
ABC News' Jeana Fermi and Will Steakin contributed to this report.
