Removal of Historic Memorials and Exhibits about American Slavery
- josephjolette
- Feb 8
- 4 min read
Executive Order March 27, 2025: “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”
Trump’s Executive Order 14253 of March 27, 2025, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” gave his Secretary of State and federal government offices the audacity to remove all memorials honoring enslaved Black Americans from federal buildings and sites. The President considers the historic memorials and markers “woke”, “divisive”, “anti-American content”, and that the materials “inappropriately disparage Americans”. One of the administration’s plans, as ordered by Trump, is to conduct an extensive review of the Smithsonian Institution's museum exhibitions, materials and operations ahead of America's 250th anniversary next year to ensure the museums align with President Donald Trump's view of American history which excludes non-white history, Black enslavement, and their contributions to the founding, wealth, and preeminence of the United States. The African American National Museum of History is one of the museums targeted by Trump in his quest to rewrite the United States history based on one dominant, single lens – white eyes.
The review currently covers eight Smithsonian museums.
The National Museum of American History
The National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of African American History and Culture
The National Museum of the American Indian
The National Air and Space Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum
The National Portrait Gallery
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
President's House Memorial: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation
The House & the People Who Worked & Lived In It Marker Detail
On January 23, 2026, the removal of historic markers and exhibits honoring enslaved people at the President’s House at the Independence Hall in Philadelphia has sparked national debate over how American history should be presented. Until its removal in 2026, the President's House was the only federal historic site that commemorated the history of slavery in the United States. The memorial, opened in 2010, commemorates nine Black individuals—Christopher Sheets, Joe Richardson, Austin, Giles Hercules, Oney Judge, Moll, Richmond, and Paris—who were enslaved by President George Washington and Martha Washington. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is where the Independence Declaration was signed and many of the upcoming celebration of “America 250” will take place in the city and Trump sees the historic slavery marker as a denigration of America’s greatness.
The nine enslaved Africans mentioned in the exhibit include:
Austin – postillion and stable hand, brother of Ona Judge.
Christopher Sheels – personal attendant, literate, and attempted to escape in 1799.
Giles – driver, postillion, and stable hand, returned to Mt. Vernon in 1791.
Hercules – chief cook, celebrated for his culinary skills.
Joe (Richardson) – postillion, later married to a freed woman.
Moll – nursemaid to Martha Washington’s grandchildren.
Ona/Oney Judge – personal maid to Martha Washington, escaped in 1796.
Paris – young stable hand.
Richmond – name listed in the exhibit.
The removed historic marker serves as a reminder of the often-overlooked contributions and lives of enslaved Black people in the nation’s history, the ongoing debate over how such histories are preserved and interpreted, and the Black – White binary that still haunts the United States of America.
Legal and Public Response
Trump’s removal of the memorial of the nine Africans enslaved by George Washington – an exhibit that was part of the “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation” display is part of the President’s national trend to alter true and honest American history. The City of Philadelphia has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the desecration of the enslaved historic markers at the George Washington House on Independence Mall. Several historians, activists and Americans concerned about preserving true history are protesting over Trump’s overreach and attempt to rewrite the United States History and distort the nation’s origin story. Michael Coard, LLB founder of “Avenging the Ancestors Coalition”(https://www.avengingtheancestors.com) and Dr. Matt Hall, founder of “Old City Remembers”, a professor at Temple University, Philadelphia have organized group protests at the President’s House site on Independence Hall. Dr. Hall encourages individuals who are passionate about preserving honest history to sign up via the organization website (https://oldcityremembers.my.canva.site) to read passages about true American history at the desecrated sight. Dr. Hall can also be reached at oldcityremebers@gmail.com.
100th Anniversary of Black History Month
February 2026 is the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, founded in 1926 by Historian Carter G Woodson. As Americans celebrate the many contributions from African Americans to the American history and story, the current administration is creating an irreparable harm by attacking African Americans, desecrating memorials of enslaved Black people, and erasing the history of slavery in the United States. Black history is American history. Denial of enslavement of Black people in the United States creates irreparable harm to Americans. Preserve Black historic sites and ensure Black history is taught in educational institutions. The United States history cannot be erased or taught solely through the lens of white Americans.
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Dr. Bernadine Ahonkhai
Founder/CEO, Coalition4Justice
Dr. Ahonkhai, a resident of Montgomery County, Pa, is a long-time Social Justice activist and the author of “Untold History: Africans in the American Diaspora, Origins, Past, and Present Contributions”.
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