By Micah Jonah
February 17, 2026
United States federal judge has ordered the National Park Service (NPS) to restore a slavery exhibit removed from a historic site in Philadelphia, ruling that the federal government cannot selectively alter documented history.
The case centres on the Independence National Historical Park, where former President George Washington lived during the 1790s. The exhibit detailed the lives of nine people enslaved by Washington and his wife at the President’s House site.
The removal followed an executive order by US President Donald Trump directing federal agencies to ensure that national monuments and parks do not display materials deemed to “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
In a strongly worded 40-page ruling delivered on Monday, US District Judge, Cynthia Rufe ordered that the exhibit be restored to its original condition while a lawsuit challenging its removal proceeds in court. She also barred federal officials from installing alternative materials that reinterpret the history differently.
Judge Rufe criticized what she described as an attempt to erase historical facts, drawing parallels to the fictional “Ministry of Truth” in George Orwell’s novel 1984. She ruled that the federal government does not possess the authority to “dissemble and disassemble historical truths” at sites under its control.
The City of Philadelphia had sued the Trump administration after explanatory panels at the site were quietly removed. The exhibit, created about two decades ago through collaboration between city and federal authorities, included biographical accounts of the enslaved individuals, including two who eventually escaped.
The development comes amid wider controversy over the removal of historical references to slavery and Native American displacement at other federal sites, including the Grand Canyon National Park.
Reacting to the ruling, Pennsylvania State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta described the decision as a victory against efforts to “whitewash” American history. Another lawmaker, Representative Brendan Boyle, said acknowledging both the positive and painful chapters of the nation’s past is essential to upholding its founding ideals.
There was no immediate response from the Trump administration at the time of filing this report.
