At 1 p.m., the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, or ATAC \u2014 the group that was formed to advocate for the original slavery exhibit \u2014 staged a performance with actors telling the stories of the nine people enslaved by Washington. The youngest, Khylei Bailey, 8, recounted the life of Richmond, the 11-year-old son of Washington\u2019s cook Hercules Posey and seamstress Alice.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI also have to sweep the chimneys, which is very dirty work,\u201d he said. \u201cI once tried to escape from George Washington but did not make it. I\u2019m just happy that my father will eventually escape to freedom. I am the American story.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
ATAC activist Farugh Maat said it was important for them to \u201ctell the whole story\u201d of American history.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge Washington was a magnificent general, great president, but you can\u2019t be a great human being if you\u2019re enslaving people,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you talk about white liberty, you got to talk about African bondage. That\u2019s part of the story. Everything has a contrast. And so that\u2019s why we here. We got to tell our ancestors\u2019 story.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Among the several dozen attendees were City Councilmember Rue Landau, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who also took to the podium to speak.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cI think about my two boys, Isaiah Mandela and Elijah Kwame, growing up here\u00a0\u2014 not only here in the city of Philadelphia, but most importantly in this country \u2014 and I\u2019m always advocating on the front line to make sure that they deserve to have a city and a country that advocates for freedom, justice and equality for everyone,\u201d he said. \u201cSo as we celebrate this Fourth of July, let\u2019s continue to make sure we are advocating and fighting for progress and justice for everyone.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The legal battle over the site started when President Donald Trump issued an executive order, \u201cRestoring Truth and Sanity to American History,\u201d which directed federal agencies to remove or revise content deemed \u201cimproperly disparaging\u201d to American history. The National Park Service subsequently moved to alter the President\u2019s House exhibit, prompting the city of Philadelphia to sue in January. A federal district judge ordered them restored.\n<\/p>\n
However, the Trump administration appealed to the 3rd Circuit, which reversed the lower court\u2019s decision. On Friday, the appeals court cleared the way for the park service to erect the new proposed exhibit \u201cwithout further delay<\/a>.\u201d The Parker administration then immediately sought further review of the ruling.\n<\/p>\n The new panels also mention the nine people enslaved at the site. However, they change the overall tone of the exhibit, softening and significantly reducing references to slavery, and shifting the focus toward the \u201canti-slavery sentiments\u201d of the slave-owning Founding Fathers.\n<\/p>\n The new exhibit also goes deeper into the house\u2019s history and gives more space to Washington\u2019s actions, while living in the house, that are not related to slavery.\n<\/p>\n Timothy Welbeck, a professor and director of the Center for Anti-Racism at Temple University who was also visiting the site, said that those stories are prevalent enough around Philadelphia.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that part of the story,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat most of the people who come through here do not know is the story of Ona Judge and Paris and Christopher and the others who were enslaved here. And so to de-emphasize them, particularly when they have such a foundational role in the creation of America, is not something that should be happening.\u201d The fight to protect the exhibit drew support from across the political spectrum, from Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a> to Pennsylvania\u2019s Republican U.S. Sen. David McCormick.\n<\/p>\n Michael Coard, an attorney and co-founder of ATAC, told the audience Saturday that they intend to continue to fight, either by seeking an en banc review \u2014 whereby all active judges of an appellate court hear a case together, rather than the usual three-judge panel \u2014 or possibly filing another \u201cmore expansive\u201d lawsuit. He said an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was unlikely.\n<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes you\u2019ve got great legal issues, but you don\u2019t take them to a court that\u2019s going to rule against you,\u201d he said. \u2018I am the American story\u2019 At 1 p.m., the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, or ATAC \u2014 the group that was formed to advocate for the original slavery exhibit \u2014 staged a performance with actors telling the stories of the nine people enslaved by Washington. The youngest, Khylei Bailey, 8, recounted the life of Richmond, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11573],"tags":[6743,5873,6687,196,3688,637],"class_list":["post-33297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philadelphia-breaking-news","tag-activists","tag-defend","tag-exhibit","tag-house","tag-philadelphia","tag-presidents"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",230,230,false],"kava-thumb-m":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",400,400,false],"kava-thumb-m-vertical":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",370,500,false],"kava-thumb-m-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",570,450,false],"kava-thumb-l":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",1170,650,false],"kava-thumb-xl":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",1920,1080,false],"kava-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",600,999,false],"kava-thumb-justify":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",640,640,false],"kava-thumb-justify-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-04-e-lee-albert-dermovsesian-philadelphia-presidents-house-slavery-exhibit-missing-panels.jpeg",1280,640,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"#RiseCelestialStudios","author_link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/author\/ralph-c\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Philadelphia Viral News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"\u2018I am the American story\u2019 At 1 p.m., the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, or ATAC \u2014 the group that was formed to advocate for the original slavery exhibit \u2014 staged a performance with actors telling the stories of the nine people enslaved by Washington. The youngest, Khylei Bailey, 8, recounted the life of Richmond, the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33299,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33297\/revisions\/33299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTimothy Welbeck, director of the Center for Anti-Racism at Temple University, visits the President\u2019s House Site at Independence National Historical Park. (Emma Lee\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n
\nMichael Coard, founder of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, talks with reporters at the President\u2019s House Site at Independence National Historical Park. Coard and his organization have been fighting the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to make changes to the site, which memorializes the nine people enslaved by George Washington during his presidency in Philadelphia. (Emma Lee\/WHYY)\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"