‘I don’t need my history erased’: Rally for return of President’s House slavery exhibit draws hundreds to Independence Mall

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Hundreds of people attended a rally Tuesday afternoon at the President’s House site on Independence Mall to demand the return of the slavery exhibit that was abruptly removed by members of the National Park Service last month.

With speeches from historians, faith leaders, city and state officials, and tour guides, the rally was organized by Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, a group that had a key role in ensuring that the story of enslaved people was told at the site. 

“I want you to remember here at this memorial the nine enslaved people who stood here, who lived here, who fought here,” said Mijuel Johnson, an ATAC member and guide for The Black Journey: African American History Walking Tour of Philadelphia. “They stood here for you. They stood here for me. They stood here for us, so that you could be free.”

Philadelphia police blocked off Market Street between 5th and 6th streets for the rally. Attendees held signs with messages including “Black history is American history, it cannot be erased,” “History, not histrionics” and “Stop this crime, return the panels.”

The lineup of speakers for the rally included Philadelphia City Councilmember Mark Squilla, Pa. state Sen. Nikil Saval, NAACP Philadelphia Branch President Catherine Hicks, and Yvonne Studevan, a descendant of Mother Bethel AME Church founder Richard Allen — whose story was a part of the slavery exhibit.

“We in the city of Philadelphia understand and appreciate history because … our country was founded right here. The United States of America was made in Philadelphia,” said Squilla. “And now it’s time for us to stand up for what is right.”

The exhibit, The President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation, installed in 2010, detailed the lives of the nine enslaved people George Washington brought to Philadelphia during his presidency and explored his personal involvement in slavery.

Rally attendee and Philly native Sherese Abrams said that she was still learning about the history of the site, which made the removal feel more egregious.

“I don’t need my history erased in my hometown before I even learn the full truth about it …. Why take that away from our children?” she said.

The removal of the exhibit appeared to be the fulfillment of an executive order President Donald Trump signed last March, calling for the removal of displays from federal monuments, memorials and similar sites that “contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” Instead, it said, those sites should showcase “the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.” 

Immediately after the signs were taken down on Jan. 22, Mayor Cherelle Parker’s office responded by filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The suit claims the federal government did not honor a 2006 cooperative agreement that may require advanced notice of changes to the site.

In that trial, U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe has described the arguments made by attorneys representing the federal government as “dangerous” and “horrifying to listen to.” After inspecting the National Park Service’s secured storage space where the exhibits panels are being stored, Rufe informed reporters that the panels are not damaged.

Back in September, ATAC attempted to present Interior Secretary Doug Burgum with a letter asking the Trump administration not to censor history, but the group did not end up meeting with him. 

Stephen Pierce, an ATAC member and historical interpreter who recently started playing young George Washington as part of his tours, spoke at the September gathering. He said he was shocked that the exhibit was taken down, adding he believes Washington would have found the government’s actions “ludicrous.”

“The fact that he owned enslaved people, it wasn’t a secret, and he knew it wasn’t a secret,” Pierce said. “In fact, he felt great shame about it, and I think that played a role in him actually freeing his own slaves — not Martha’s slaves but his own slaves — at the end of his life.”

Since the exhibit was removed, ATAC has organized demonstrations, hosted multiple online town halls and filed a joint friend of the court brief supporting the city’s lawsuit. Philadelphia’s four collar counties also jointly filed a brief on Monday.

Over the course of the afternoon, a change.org petition made by ATAC, to restore the exhibit at the site, surpassed 5,000 signatures.

Members of the public have also shown their disapproval at the exhibit’s removal, with group protests, park visitors filling the empty frames with messages of protest, and people volunteering to take turns reading the text from the removed placards at the site.

As of Tuesday, information about the President’s House Site’s history and its ties to slavery remain available on the National Park Service’s website.

ATAC will hold another rally there on President’s Day, continuing a practice that founder Michael Coard said was started in 2002.