Philadelphia is at the center of a cultural battle that could reshape the telling of US history. An executive order targeting what President Donald Trump calls "divisive ideology" is now being implemented at a national park there, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.

Philadelphia

The Trump administration has instructed the U.S. National Park Service to review and potentially remove exhibits that are considered to promote 'improper ideology,' with a particular focus on displays about slavery. This directive follows the signing of the 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History Executive Order,' which aims to counter what the administration describes as negative portrayals of America's founding principles. 

Critics argue that the move is an attempt to sanitize and rewrite American history, especially as the country approaches its 250th anniversary. The National Park Service has stated that the review is intended to ensure the full and accurate telling of the nation's past, but the decision has prompted concerns about whose version of history will ultimately be presented.

U.S. National Parks ordered to remove "improper ideology"

It was here that the United States declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776, and George Washington served as the nation's first president. But today, Independence Hall and its surroundings are a national park under scrutiny by the Trump administration. At the president's insistence, more than a dozen displays about slavery have been flagged by park employees for review, and potentially for removal. That reportedly includes exhibits at what's known as the president's house, where George Washington lived with his family and nine slaves. This is the actual foundation. When the Holmes Foundation was unearthed just over a decade ago, Michael Cord led local efforts to include the story of Washington's slaves in the exhibit. If you want to call him a great general, you can do that. If you want to call him a great president, you can do that. But can you be a great human being when you hold 316 fellow human beings, including nine here, in slavery? In March, the president signed what he called the Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History Executive Order. He accused the Biden administration of promoting what he called corrosive ideology, casting America's founding principles in a negative light. The exhibits are coming under review as the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary with a massive 4th of July celebration right here in Philadelphia. President Trump says his executive order is about restoring national pride, but critics say it's an attempt to whitewash history. More than 400 national parks and historic sites in the national park system are being scrutinized. The Park Service declined our request for an interview, but said in an email that the effort, quote, reinforces our commitment to telling the full and accurate story of our nation's past. Alan Spears sees it differently. He works for the National Parks Conservation Association. People may want to pass this off as being just an effort to right-size historic preservation in this country, to maybe take a poke at the woke culture that's here. It's not that. This is a direct effort to sanitize and rewrite American history. Americans we spoke with say they can handle the truth. It's part of our American history, and he wants to change history. I think it should be betrayed for what it really was, and don't try to change anything to be anything that, to appease anybody. But whose version of the truth will be told remains to be seen. The administration has set September 17th as the deadline to remove, quote, inappropriate content. Kristen Salumi, Al Jazeera, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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