Philadelphia filed suit on Thursday against the National Park Service (NPS), which removed educational panels about slavery from Independence National Historical Park. The panels were located at the President’s House Site, and they informed visitors about the slaves owned by George and Martha Washington in Philadelphia, when it was the nation’s capital.

The suit alleges that the NPS violated the Administrative Procedure Act, stating that removing the panels was “arbitrary, capricious, (and) an abuse of discretion.” The suit further alleges that the NPS violated a 2006 cooperative agreement between it and the city, giving the city equal rights to decide the content of the President’s House project. The agreement specifically requires the exhibit to include information about slavery. The city’s suit seeks its return.

The park service removed the panels in response to Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The order, dated March 27, 2025, said that it is intended to counter “ideological indoctrination” in accounts of America’s history. It specifically referred to Independence National Historical Park, among others, and it directed the Secretary of the Interior to “ensure that all public … markers … do not contain … content that inappropriately disparage(s) Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times).”

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro responded to the removal of the exhibit on Friday, stating, “Donald Trump will take any opportunity to rewrite and whitewash our history. But he picked the wrong city – and he sure as hell picked the wrong Commonwealth. We learn from our history in Pennsylvania, even when it’s painful.”  Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson added, “Removing the exhibits is an effort to whitewash American history. History cannot be erased simply because it is uncomfortable. Removing items from the President’s House merely changes the landscape, not the historical record.”

Senior Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for the National Parks Conservation Association Ed Stierli also said, “Forcing the Park Service to dismantle the President’s House exhibit is an insult to the memory of the enslaved people who lived there and to their descendants.”