Trump Admin Appeals Judge's Ruling On Slavery Exhibits In Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA — The fight over slavery exhibits at the President's House at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia will continue after the Trump Administration appealed a judge's ruling that the exhibits must be restored.

U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe Monday ruled the exhibits removed from the park in late January must be reinstalled, and said the Department of Interior may not "prevent any additions, removals, destruction, or further changes of any kind to the President’s House site, except in the event that a mutual written agreement is reached between Defendants and the City of Philadelphia."

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."

Their removal was tied to a March 2025 executive order titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity To American History" that in part reads:

"The Secretary of the Interior shall take action to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people."

It specifically mentions Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.

"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 order reads.