A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore displays about George Washington’s ownership of enslaved people at a monument on the site of his former house in Philadelphia. The judge said the government’s claim to have the power to erase and alter historical accounts at the country’s monuments echoed George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984.”
In a 40-page opinion, Judge Cynthia M. Rufe granted a preliminary injunction to the City of Philadelphia, which had sued the Interior Department and the National Park Service over their decision to remove the displays. The order means the government must put the materials back up while the underlying lawsuit proceeds in court.
Last month, National Park Service workers arrived unannounced at the President’s House Site, a monument on the spot of a home used by Washington and President John Adams in the early days of the nation, and took down panels, displays and video exhibits describing the local history of slavery and commemorating the nine enslaved people Washington kept there while he was president.
The Park Service has said that the displays were taken down to ensure “accuracy, honesty and alignment with shared national values.” The move was part of a far-reaching effort by the Trump administration to rewrite American history along ideological lines at national monuments and parks across the country.
“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s ‘1984’ now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance Is Strength,’ this court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims — to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts,” Judge Rufe wrote. “It does not.”
“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,” added Judge Rufe, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.
The order bars further alterations to the President’s House Site but does not set a deadline for restoring the displays. Unless stayed by a higher court, the injunction will remain in effect until Judge Rufe enters her final ruling. The preliminary injunction signals that she believes the city has a strong case and is likely to prevail.
The White House declined to comment, referring questions to the Interior Department, which did not immediately respond to messages from a reporter. The City of Philadelphia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Trump administration has extended its ideological battles to many national monuments, museums and parks, ridding them of what the president sees as liberal viewpoints. At the Muir Woods National Monument in California and Fort Sumter in South Carolina, for instance, signs about climate change were removed.
At Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts, employees were ordered to stop showing films about the grueling conditions endured by mill workers, many of them women and immigrants, in the early 19th century. And at the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan, long seen as the birthplace of the national L.G.B.T.Q. rights movement, the Pride flag was removed last week.
Anushka Patil is a Times reporter covering breaking and developing news around the world.
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