At the heart of America’s ongoing debate over how history should be remembered and taught, a sweeping new executive order from President Donald Trump has ignited fierce controversy across the nation’s most treasured historic sites. Signed in March 2025, the order instructs the National Park Service (NPS) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) to remove or alter displays that officials say "disparage America’s past," with a deadline set for September 17, 2025. The move has sent shockwaves through communities, historians, and visitors at sites ranging from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall to Georgia’s Fort Pulaski and West Virginia’s Harpers Ferry.
Philadelphia, often called the cradle of American liberty, finds itself at the center of this storm. According to WPVI, the executive order threatens to erase displays at Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell Center, and the former home of President George Washington—sites that do not shy away from telling the complex stories of America’s founding, including the enslavement of Black Americans. For visitors like Karen Ellis, the experience is deeply emotional. “They were actually just talking about how a woman was having to raise her children, and she had to escape from being a slave and she lost her husband,” Ellis recounted, tears welling in her eyes as she reflected on the stories told at Washington’s former residence on 6th and Market Streets.
But these stories, and the displays that bring them to life, are now at risk. National Parks workers have been instructed to flag and remove any exhibits deemed to "disparage" America, with critics arguing this is an attempt to whitewash the nation’s history. Jennifer Blakemore, another visitor from Sacramento, voiced her dismay: “It’s just sad. It’s just really sad this is happening.” Adam Ellis, also visiting the President’s House, asked pointedly, “Why would you try to erase or delete what really happened?”
The order’s reach extends far beyond Philadelphia. In Georgia, Trump officials reportedly ordered the removal of a reproduction of the iconic 1863 photograph “The Scourged Back” from Fort Pulaski National Monument, as reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post. The photograph, which shows the scarred back of a man known only as Peter—who escaped slavery and joined the Union Army—became a rallying cry for abolitionists during the Civil War. Its removal, part of the same executive order, has provoked widespread outrage among historians and civil rights advocates.
The controversy is not limited to displays about slavery. The order also reportedly targets interpretive signs installed under the Biden administration at Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia. One such sign critiques the "Lost Cause" myth—a narrative that downplays slavery’s role in the Civil War and recasts the Confederacy in a sympathetic light. The sign accompanies a monument to Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, and its removal is seen by many as an attempt to suppress honest reckoning with the nation’s past.
In West Virginia, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, where abolitionist John Brown led his 1859 raid to arm enslaved people, has also been swept up in the directive. As reported by LOOTPRESS and The Washington Post, park staff flagged over 30 signs that mention racial discrimination and the hostility faced by freed Black Americans. These were marked “out of compliance” and slated for removal or covering. The changes are especially significant given Harpers Ferry’s central role in the story of abolition and the Civil War.
The policy has sparked a grassroots effort to preserve the threatened displays. Lynda Kellam, a founding organizer of the Data Rescue Project, has joined forces with the Minnesota-based Save Our Signs to document and archive the endangered materials. “We’re asking people to take pictures and enter it in an online forum,” Kellam explained, directing concerned citizens to websites like saveoursigns.org and the Data Rescue Project’s own portal. As of September 16, 2025, more than 8,000 photos have been submitted by people across the country, a testament to the public’s determination to safeguard historical memory.
Not everyone agrees on what constitutes an honest telling of history. The White House, in a statement issued when Trump signed the executive order, insisted, “President Trump is ensuring that American history is celebrated accurately, fairly, and with pride.” The Department of the Interior has pushed back against media reports of exhibit removals, with a spokesperson telling Hyperallergic: “The Washington Post continues to rely on anonymous sources and unverified claims to drive a false narrative. We caution against reporting on false claims that are not grounded in verified facts. In accordance with Secretary’s Order No. 3431, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, all interpretive signage in national parks is under review. Anyone reporting on anything but the facts is spreading misinformation to the American people.”
Yet for many, the policy feels like an attempt to silence uncomfortable truths. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, speaking on September 16, 2025, declared, “Here’s the news: we aren’t going to let you erase history. We are going to make history.” Michael Coard, founder and attorney for the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition—a group that fought to have the story of George Washington’s slaves told at Independence Mall—was even more forceful. “To whitewash American history now, on the 250th anniversary—the eve of it—is what I call historical blasphemy.”
Park Service officials have justified the reviews and removals as necessary for balance. Rachel Pawlitz, a spokesperson for the NPS, told The Washington Post, “Interpretive materials that disproportionately emphasize negative aspects of U.S. history or historical figures, without acknowledging broader context or national progress, can unintentionally distort understanding rather than enrich it.” The Interior Department has even encouraged employees and visitors to report signage or gift shop items deemed out of compliance, though most visitor feedback reportedly criticizes the administration’s approach and praises the parks’ existing displays.
Private, nonprofit museums such as the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia remain unaffected by the executive order, continuing to present a fuller, sometimes uncomfortable, picture of the nation’s origins. But the battle over what stories are told in America’s public spaces is far from over. As the country approaches its 250th anniversary, the stakes could not be higher. The struggle over history is, at its core, a struggle over identity—who gets to define what it means to be American, and whose stories are worth remembering.
For now, the fight continues in courtrooms, online forums, and the hearts of visitors moved by the stories that some would rather see forgotten. The outcome will shape not just how the past is remembered, but how the nation understands itself moving forward.
