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The National Park Service has edited a page on its website that describes the Underground Railroad to reduce the emphasis on Harriet Tubman, instead highlighting “Black/White cooperation.”
The Washington Post first reported the changes, noting that the government replaced a large portrait of Tubman as well as a quote at the top of the page where Tubman described herself as “the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years.” In place of Tubman’s portrait is a collage of five U.S. Postal Service stamps that depict Black and white abolitionist figures, including Tubman, who were involved in helping to bring escaped enslaved people to the north.
“The Underground Railroad — the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War — refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage,” the page used to read.
The opening lines of the page no longer mention slavery but call the Underground Railroad “one of the most significant expressions of the American civil rights movement.” It also states that the network “bridged the divides of race.”
According to The Post, since Trump returned to office, dozens of government-owned webpages have “softened descriptions of some of the most shameful moments of the nation’s past,” including erasing or editing references to slavery and Jim Crow-era segregation.
High-ranking political appointees at the Interior Department, which manages the Park Service, have directed staff to identify webpages that the administration might take issue with, according to anonymous sources who spoke to the paper.
The Post found additional changes on dozens of pages, including:
- Taking down a page describing “the life of Benjamin Franklin and his relationship with slavery.” As of March 1, the page, which included lesson plans for teachers, now shows a message: “This page is currently being worked on. Please check back later.”
- Removing a mention that Declaration of Independence signer Thomas Stone owned enslaved people from a number of pages for the Stone National Historic site in Southern Maryland. A reference on the site to “enslaved African Americans” in nearby areas was also changed to “enslaved workers.”
- Deleting of a section of a Minute Man National Historical Park webpage that talked about how Black soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War were not recognized for their efforts. That passage said in part that “systemic racism and historical bias have erased or buried many records of Black and Indigenous people who played a prominent role in the founding of the United States.”
- Removing mentions of the struggle for “equality” on a webpage about the Niagara Movement, founded by African American civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois.
- Other edits to Park Service webpages to remove mentions of slavery.
In a statement to The Post, a spokesperson for the Park Service said: “The National Park Service has been entrusted with preserving local history, celebrating local heritage, safeguarding special places and sharing stories of American experiences. We take this role seriously and can point to many examples of how we tell nuanced and difficult stories about American history.”
This revisionist purge appears to be part of the administration’s anti-DEI objectives. Earlier edits to Department of Defense websites removed an article that paid tribute to Jackie Robinson’s military service and several other pages that featured women and minority groups. When confronted, the administration blamed their use of artificial intelligence for the pages being taken down.
An Executive Order signed by Trump last month called for the removal of “anti-American ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution, including targeting exhibits at the National Museum of African American History and the Women’s History Museum. He declared that the Smithsonian will be banned from hosting exhibits or programs that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
