Judge orders restoration of National Park exhibits removed by Trump administration

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to reinstate historical exhibits that were removed from national parks and landmarks. U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction on Friday, halting further changes and demanding the restoration of sites altered under an executive order.

The executive order had called for the removal of displays that "inappropriately disparage Americans past or living." However, Judge Kelley found that the plaintiffs, including conservation and historical organizations, had demonstrated that these actions were intended "to rewrite the Nation's history with a white-out pen."

"History cannot be faithfully told while excluding the experiences of communities whose contributions, struggles, and achievements form an important part of our Nation's story," the judge wrote. She mandated that the administration provide weekly status reports on its progress in restoring the exhibits.

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History cannot be faithfully told while excluding the experiences of communities whose contributions, struggles, and achievements form an important part of our Nation's story.

The lawsuit, filed in February, contested National Park Service policies that allegedly forced staff to remove or censor exhibits containing accurate U.S. history and scientific knowledge, including information on slavery and climate change. The judge criticized the administration's approach, stating, "Under the guise of promoting American dignity, this Administration seeks to share a limited history by ordering the removal of all signs, displays, and interpretive exhibits at National Parks that do not align with its preferred narrative, thereby telling half-truths."

Many of the affected exhibits were at Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park, where displays on the lives of nine enslaved individuals during the 1790s were removed. Other instances included the removal of a sign at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona and films on labor history at Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts. The Trump administration had previously described the executive order as "restoring truth and sanity to American history."

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Under the guise of promoting American dignity, this Administration seeks to share a limited history by ordering the removal of all signs, displays, and interpretive exhibits at National Parks that do not align with its preferred narrative, thereby telling half-truths.