Shapiro takes legal action after Philadelphia slavery exhibits were removed under Trump order
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro took legal action Tuesday to support Philadelphia's lawsuit against the Trump administration after slavery exhibits were removed from the President's House in Old City.
Shapiro filed an amicus brief in support of Philadelphia's suit and said that the actions by the Trump administration to remove the slavery exhibits from the President's House at 6th and Market streets are an attempt to rewrite history.
"Donald Trump will take any opportunity to rewrite and whitewash our history — but he picked the wrong city and the wrong Commonwealth," Shapiro said in a statement.
Last week, National Park Service workers removed the slavery exhibits because of President Trump's executive order called "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History." The order mentioned Philadelphia's Independence National Historic Park, home of the Liberty Bell and the President's House, as well as the Smithsonian Institution's museums in Washington, D.C.
The President's House in Old City was once the home of Presidents George Washington and John Adams. The slavery exhibits were a collaborative effort and detail the lives of nine people enslaved at the home while Washington lived there as president.
"In Pennsylvania, we learn from our history, even when it's painful," Shapiro said in a statement. "We don't erase it or pretend it didn't happen. Because when we know where we've been, we can chart a better course for the future. Those displays aren't just signs — they represent our shared history, and if we want to move forward as a nation, we have to be willing to tell the full story of where we came from."
The city of Philadelphia filed the lawsuit last week seeking to have the slavery exhibits put back. The suit said the city had prior agreements with the NPS that require any disputes to be resolved "in an informal fashion through communication and consultation ... or other forms of non-binding alternative dispute resolution that are mutually acceptable to the parties."
According to the lawsuit, the NPS and the Interior Department "did not engage with the city and do not have the city's approval to make unilateral changes to the President's House exhibit."
Mayor Cherelle Parker said last week the city's agreement with the federal government dates back to 2006 and "requires parties to meet and confer if there are to be any changes made to an exhibit."
In a social media post Tuesday, Parker said the federal government granted the city's request to preserve the exhibits while the litigation is pending.
Parker said the city also filed a preliminary injunction to stop further damage to the exhibit and President's House site. A hearing is scheduled for Friday with a federal judge for the injunction, she said.
"We will continue fighting to have these interpretive panels returned to the city of Philadelphia," Parker said. "Why? Because this history is a critical part of our nation's origins. And it deserves to be seen and heard not just by the people of Philadelphia but by every person who comes to Philadelphia from around our nation and the world to see and learn from."
"Philadelphia, we are on the right side of history," she added.