History Cannot Be “Scraped Clean”: Court Orders Oney Judge’s Story and Slavery Exhibits Restored Manny Moreno By Manny Moreno
PHILADELPHIA – In a stunningly worded 40-page opinion released February 16, 2026, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ordered the Trump administration to immediately restore slavery-related exhibits removed from the President’s House site at Independence National Historical Park. The case, City of Philadelphia v. Burgum, marks a significant judicial intervention yet in the growing struggle over how American history is presented in public spaces.
Judge Rufe granted a preliminary injunction requiring the National Park Service (NPS) to reinstall all removed panels and video exhibits and prohibiting further changes without mutual written agreement between the City of Philadelphia and the federal government. The ruling came after the NPS removed 34 educational panels and deactivated videos discussing slavery at the site built atop the foundation of George Washington’s Philadelphia residence.
In language that was rhetorically striking, legally ambitious, and unusually direct in tone, Rufe compared the government’s actions to George Orwell’s 1984, warning against a regime where history can be “scraped clean and reinscribed.” She wrote that the government’s claim to erase or alter historical accounts at national monuments echoed Orwell’s dystopian vision. “The government here likewise asserts truth is no longer self-evident, but rather the property of the elected chief magistrate and his appointees and delegees,” the George W. Bush appointee wrote. “And why? Solely because, as Defendants state, it has the power.”
The President’s House site interprets the “paradox” of liberty and bondage at the nation’s founding. George Washington enslaved people both at this Philadelphia residence and at Mount Vernon, where exhibits, reconstructed enslaved quarters, and burial grounds acknowledge that history. In Philadelphia, the exhibits told the stories of nine enslaved Africans, including Oney Judge, who escaped in 1796 and later lived free in New Hampshire.
Rufe emphasized that Oney Judge’s story is central to the site’s inclusion in the Underground Railroad “Network to Freedom,” created under a 1998 federal law. Removing that interpretation, she wrote, undermines the very statutory basis for the site’s designation.
The removals followed President Donald Trump’s March 27, 2025, executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The order directed the Interior Department to eliminate displays that promote what it described as “corrosive ideology” and narratives portraying the United States as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.” It specifically referenced Independence National Historical Park, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Dt thinks he will be forgotten if he doesn’t plaster his name and image everywhere.
No, he won’t be forgotten, but he won’t be remembered in the way that he’d like. He will be remembered as the worst US president ever, and his name and image will go down in the history books beside the likes of Hitler and tinpot wannabe dictators… the only place where the memory of him belongs.
Trump will retain anyone as corrupt, racist, and loyal as Stephen F Miller. He's an All-American boy! You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony
Re: Dirty hands of little Stephen F Miller all over it.
Everyone in the White House who speaks to the media and press should be addressed as Steve because he is the voice behind it. Basically the executive branch is included.
Thanks for taking my question Steve. I have a follow up Steve. Steve Who, What, Why, When, Where are the files Steve?
A Jack of all trades is master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.
... And many thanks for the masters in skill for setting our standard of work to instill.
Felon's niece's response to suggestion she change her name.
Trump is syphilis, Miller is gonorrhea. Together they hardly cure the patient.
MAGAs I know still back him 100%. Give him a break. It only took eight years to kick Epstein out of Mar a Lago, and that was because Epstein hit on one of the felon's favorite cocktail waitresses.
One man, one woman?
Trump's definition is one man, one woman, another woman, another woman, many women before, during and after: Professional women, young women, pageant women, hired employee women, acquaintances, women he grabbed and groped somewhere...
Meanwhile his economy is a jobless boom. Yeah, stock prices soared. But job creation was at best flat. Perplexed about why, economists fail to understand that among other things, AI and robotics are replacing employees. The top tier is profiting hugely. The American work force is taking a huge hit.
Both my son and daughter's careers were cut short by AI, and it is going to get worse. Dottir was laid off. Son's business is at a crawl. The local Amazon warehouse laid off hundreds of workers and implemented robots that work 24/7 for no pay.
People are scared, and they have cause to be scared. You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony
on February 17, 2026, 8:38 pm
