February 17, 2026
Philadelphia City Council President and avid Trump critic Kenyatta Johnson issued a statement saying “we cannot let President Donald Trump whitewash African American history. Black history is American history.”
The city of Philadelphia fought for Black History and won after a federal judge ordered the slavery exhibit inside the President’s House to be restored.
The Philadelphia Tribune reports Federal District Judge Cynthia Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled in favor of the city after filing a Jan. 22 preliminary injunction – the same day the Trump Administration ordered 34 exhibits describing the stories of nine enslaved Africans to be removed from the President’s House, home of George Washington, inside Independence National Historical Park.
She ruled for the exhibit to be restored in the same way they were on Jan. 21, in addition to keeping the grounds “in a clean and accessible manner.”
“Defendants are hereby ENJOINED from taking any action to damage any exhibits, panels, artwork, or other items from the President’s House Site, are ORDERED to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety, security, and preservation of any such items that had been removed from the President’s House Site on January 22, 2026, and are ENJOINED from making any and all further changes to the President’s House Site, including the installation of replacement materials, without mutual agreement of the City of Philadelphia during the pendency of this litigation or until further Order of the Court,” the ruling read.
The exhibit removal, including the tale of Oney Judge, an enslaved woman who escaped to freedom and built a life in New Hampshire, was done at the demise of President Donald Trump’s executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, according to The Washington Post. He and his administration called for all alleged “divisive narratives” to be scrubbed from national sites.
Trump’s MAGA narrative has subjected several museums like the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to be under audit in attempts to eliminate the story of slavery and its damaging challenges overcome by minorities and marginalized groups.
But just like the ancestors before, the exhibits weren’t going to be removed without a fight.
Attorney and civil rights activist Michael Coard called the ruling a victory but also touched on reality after gathering dozens for the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition’s “Tell the Truth” rally. “It’s a great victory but we are not going to get too excited because procedurally, the government has a chance to appeal and ask for a stay of the judgment while they appeal,” he said.
“What we could possibly have gotten, we got it all.”
Philadelphia City Council President and avid Trump critic Kenyatta Johnson issued a statement saying, “We cannot let President Donald Trump whitewash African American history. Black history is American history.”
Rufe seemingly agreed. After criticizing the administration for asserting that “truth is no longer self-evident, but rather the property of the elected chief magistrate and his appointees and delegees…,” she wrote that “each person who visits the President’s House and does not learn of the realities of founding-era slavery, receives a false account of this country’s history.”
