In a sharply worded order, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe instructed the Trump administration on Monday—George Washington's birthday—to reverse course and restore exhibits that depicted and paid homage to the enslaved people who labored at Washington’s home in Philadelphia. Citing George Orwell’s novel, 1984, Judge Rufe (first appointed by President George W. Bush) chastised the administration for operating as if the U.S. has a “Ministry of Truth” whose motto is “Ignorance is Strength.”
The panels in question were installed at the President’s House in the early 2000s, after years of advocacy by local Black leaders and activists, to commemorate the nine men, women and children enslaved by Washington there: Ona (Oney) Judge, Hercules Posey, Richmond Posey, Christopher Sheels, Joe Richardson, Austin, Giles, Moll and Paris.
However, last month—a week before the start of the United States' 100th anniversary of Black History Month—NPS workers arrived unannounced at the historical site in Philadelphia and removed these panels and video exhibits.
This case is not just about the erasure of slavery—which on its own is historically important. It’s also about the separation of powers and the First Amendment, which the Trump administration repeatedly violates.
The post In a Scorching Order, Federal Judge Rejects Trump’s Attempt to Trample the First Amendment and Rewrite America’s Antebellum Past appeared first on Ms. Magazine.