PHILADELPHIA — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will join Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy at Independence National Historical Park on Friday in preparation for the July 4, 2026, celebration of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, according to two people familiar with the event.

Burgum will be setting foot in the park just days after reports emerged that his department will be making changes to the President’s House Site, an exhibit at Independence Park that memorializes the nine people George Washington enslaved in Philadelphia and details the contradictions of slavery and liberty during the founding of America.

It remains unclear what those changes will be.

The interior secretary issued a directive in May, following President Donald Trump’s executive order, instructing the National Park Service to conduct a review of material that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living” with removal or changes set to be made by Sept. 17.

The jeopardized exhibits have spurred a battle over which pieces of history park visitors will be able to experience as they travel to Philadelphia’s iconic sites to celebrate the Semiquincentennial.

Burgum’s directive triggered the flagging of more than a dozen exhibits at Independence Park — with the President’s House being the most heavily scrutinized — while simultaneously celebrating the historical significance of the park.

Trump ordered more funding to improve the infrastructure of the park by July 4, 2026, in accordance with “recognizing the significance of Independence National Historical Park, and specifically Independence Hall, to America’s 250th birthday,” Burgum wrote in the directive.

Duffy has been embarking on “The Great American Road Trip,” aimed at bringing awareness to historic spots in the U.S. ahead of the 250th.

Independence Park is one of the sites Duffy is featuring on his trip, along with several other locations related to the Revolutionary period or the Civil War. Among them is Harpers Ferry in West Virginia, the site of abolitionist John Brown’s raid, which is another place that could have slavery-related content removed by the Trump administration.

A spokesperson for the White House asked about the visit referred The Inquirer to the Interior and Transportation Departments, neither of which responded to requests for comment.

Among those leading the battle to protect history at Independence Park is the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), a Black-led advocacy group that helped mold the President’s House Site 23 years ago to center the stories of the nine people Washington enslaved.

Thirteen items across six displays at the hard-fought President’s House were flagged for review by park staff earlier this summer, including an illustration with the words “An Act respecting fugitives from Justice,” in reference to Washington’s signing of the Fugitive Slave Act.

The illustration depicts Washington’s hands in the foreground signing the act while a group of white men are in the background attacking Black men who presumably are escaping from slavery.

The future of this display and others remains uncertain, but advocates continue to issue their warnings.

“Any attempt to remove or cover up the facts laid out at The President’s House exhibit would undermine national park rangers’ hard work and would set a dangerous precedent of prioritizing nostalgia over the truth,” said Ed Stierli, senior Mid-Atlantic regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association, in a statement.

“Our history is the beating heart of our national parks, and we believe Americans come to our parks to hear the truth,” he added.

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(Staff writer Julia Terruso contributed to this article.)

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