Dismantled slavery exhibits from the President's House Site are being held by Park Service at the National Constitution Center

Fallon Roth, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jan 28, 2026

Published in News & Features

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PHILADELPHIA — Informational exhibits about slavery removed by the National Park Service from the President’s House last week are being kept in storage at the National Constitution Center, according to a legal filing from the Trump administration.

The exhibits will remain in Park Service custody at the center, down the road from the President’s House, pending the outcome of the City of Philadelphia’s federal lawsuit against the Department of Interior and the National Park Service for taking down the exhibits.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration is seeking an injunction to return the exhibits to the President’s House, which aims to educate visitors on the horrors of slavery and memorializes the nine people George Washington enslaved at the site during the founding of the United States.

The mystery location of the removed exhibits was revealed Wednesday in a motion objecting to the city’s injunction. The motion was filed by U.S. attorneys and assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, representing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron, and their respective agencies in the city’s suit.

The legal filing also provides further details into what transpired last Thursday when Park Service employees removed exhibits about slavery at the President’s House.

Park Service employees dismantled the exhibit after Bowron ordered Steve Sims, acting regional director of the Park Service, to have employees remove the panels and turn off video displays at the site, according to the filing. Sims said the takedown was carried out the same day that Bowron requested it.

There is also remaining sign made of wood in a metal structure that was not removed last week because additional tools were needed.

“When and if NPS removes the sign, it will be stored with the other panels,” Sims said in a declaration included in the legal filing.

The footprints embedded in the site and the Memorial Wall featured the names of the nine people Washington enslaved will stay at the President’s House, he said.

Last year, Burgum and President Donald Trump ordered that contents at national parks that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living” be "reviewed and potentially removed."

In addition to the actions in Philadelphia, the National Park Service has reportedly removed signage about the mistreatment of Native Americans from the Grand Canyon among changes to other national parks under the orders.

The legal filing Tuesday previews the Trump administration’s legal argument for a hearing scheduled on Friday for Philadelphia’s suit, which could be used in other cases around the country.

The attorneys claim in the filing that this case is “fundamentally a question of Government speech” and essentially accuses the city of censoring the federal government.

“Such interests are especially weighty where, as here, the City effectively seeks to compel the Federal government to engage in speech that it does not wish to convey,” the attorneys wrote.

The city’s suit has received legal backing from Gov. Josh Shapiro and Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, an advocacy group that helped form the President’s House in the early 2000s.

The exhibit takedown has been a heartbreak for stakeholders who helped develop the site and for Philadelphians, who have left artwork memorializing what the site used to be.

In a video posted to social media Tuesday, Parker said that her administration would keep “fighting” to have the panels restored to the site as the city prepares to play a central role in the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations in July.

“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, especially as we celebrate our Semiquincentennial 250th birthday, I want the world to know you cannot erase our history,” she said.

_____