The Trump administration has reportedly ordered certain signs and exhibits detailing slavery in America be removed from multiple national parks, according to The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources. The newspaper said the administration’s order also includes the removal of a historic picture of a former slave’s scarred back.
Targeting ‘improper ideology’
According to the Post’s sources, the directive stems from an executive order by the president in March that targeted “improper ideology” and anti-American sentiment at the Smithsonian Institution as well as U.S. national parks.
As a result, the U.S. Department of the Interior has directed employees to report any signs and gift shops items that may not be in line with the executive order. The Trump administration has also asked park visitors to report any items that may feature information that is deemed to focus too much on the negative aspects of American history.
U.S. Parks spokesperson Rachel Pawlit confirmed to the Post that all of the agency’s signage is being inspected.
“Interpretative 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,” Pawlitz said in a statement.
Signage impacted
The latest removal reportedly includes more than 30 signs at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park in West Virginia, where abolitionist John Brown sought to lead an anti-slavery revolt. The information is related to racial discrimination toward Black people and mistreatment of formerly enslaved people by White Americans.
The Post also reported that displays at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, which is where President George Washington housed slaves, are not in compliance with the order.
‘The Scourged Back’
Park officials have also reportedly directed that the picture titled “The Scourged Back” at one national park be removed. The 1863 photograph features the scars on the back of man from injuries inflicted upon him by his masters while enslaved. Historians said the photo is widely believed to be a man by the name of Peter Gordon.
“The bodies of enslaved people like Peter Gordon revealed to [Northern Americans] the realities that they had never seen with their own eyes before,” Anne Cross, a scholar of 19th century photography, told The Post. “And in many cases it altered their political opinions about the need to defeat the Confederacy and preserve the Union.”
Criticism of the ordered removal
Critics of the latest move said that it marks a major shift in presidential power, particularly following President Donald Trump’s executive takeover of the Kennedy Center and targeting of exhibits at the Smithsonian over so-called “woke” ideology.
“This represents an enormous increase in federal power and control over the things we learn,” University of Pennsylvania history professor Jonathan Zimmerman told the Post. “Brought to you by the team that says education should be state and local.”
Some have also argued the removal of historical information on slavery from the President’s House exhibit threatens to leave an incomplete narrative of American history.
“This is not just a handful of signs that tell the story of slavery,” Edward Stierli, senior Mid-Atlantic regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, told the Post. “This is a place that tells the complete story not just of slavery in America, but what it was like for those who were enslaved by George Washington.”
Cindy MacLeod also told the paper that the inclusion of information about the enslavement of people by Washington is “vital” to the historical context of the site.
Trump’s order targets “corrosive ideology” that he argues fails to celebrate “American history and ingenuity, serves as a symbol of the world of American greatness, and makes America proud.”
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