Philadelphia sues US Department of the Interior and National Park Service over removal of slavery exhibit

"Following the removal of a slavery exhibit at the former presidential homes of George Washington and John Adams in Philadelphia earlier this month, the municipal government is suing the US Department of the Interior and the National Park Service (NPS), claiming that the NPS acted outside of its authority. The exhibits memorialised the nine individuals Washington enslaved during his tenure in Philadelphia as the nation was being founded."

""The city's right to approve the exhibit's final design, including the interpretive displays, would be meaningless if the NPS could at any time later change or remove the displays without the city's approval," the city's complaint, filed on 22 January in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, reads in part. "Moreover, the city's transference of its copyrights in President's House to the NPS did not include the authority to materially alter or destroy altogether the exhibit underlying the copyright.""

Philadelphia filed suit against the US Department of the Interior and the National Park Service after the NPS removed interpretive materials from a slavery exhibit at the former presidential homes of George Washington and John Adams. The exhibit memorialised nine people Washington enslaved while he lived in Philadelphia during the nation’s founding. The removal followed a Trump administration review of national park materials that might "innappropriately disparage" the United States. A 2006 agreement gave the city and NPS equal rights to final design approval; the city says a 2015 transfer of property did not authorize alterations. The complaint alleges the NPS exceeded its authority and names Interior officials as defendants.

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