Slavery Exhibits In Philadelphia Restored, Officials Say

PHILADELPHIA — About a day and a half before the federally imposed deadline to return slavery exhibits to Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park, crews were spotted reinstalling the exhibits Thursday.

According to Philadelphia officials, the slavery exhibit panels at the President’s House site are currently being restored at Independence Mall.

This comes after U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe set the deadline for the exhibits' restoration for 5 p.m. Friday, according to NBC10.

Fox 29 reports Rufe's deadline comes after previously finding the National Park Service did not comply with an earlier order.

Rufe on Monday ruled the exhibits must be restored.

"As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto 'Ignorance is Strength,' this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims—to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts," she wrote. "It does not."

The Trump Administration appealed the ruling later Monday.

"We disagree with the court’s ruling. The National Park Service routinely updates exhibits across the park system to ensure historical accuracy and completeness," a Department of the Interior statement reads. "If not for this unnecessary judicial intervention, updated interpretive materials providing a fuller account of the history of slavery at Independence Hall would have been installed in the coming days."