Slavery exhibit targeted by Trump faces uncertain future
6/14/202611 min
A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Trump’s order to remove some exhibits at national parks. In Philadelphia, just ahead of the start of commemorations for America's 250th birthday, activists fight to restore a memorial about enslaved people who lived and worked in George Washington's executive mansion.
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This episode was produced by Henry Larson.
It was edited by Sarah Robbins.
Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAdrian Florido· Host0:00
It's Consider This, where every day we go deep on one big news story. We're just a few weeks away from celebrating the nation's 250th birthday, so I went to the city called the birthplace of America, Philadelphia. [bell ringing] It was right here at Independence Hall that the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Philadelphia became the nation's first capital, George Washington its first president. He lived a block away. For decades and decades, people have come to these few old city blocks, all cobblestone and red brick, to steep themselves in this history of American freedom. But producer Henry Larson and I came because of a battle playing out right now over that history, specifically over whether the National Park Service, which runs these historic sites, should have to tell the stories of the Black people who were part of it. We're standing here looking at this beautiful rear facade of Independence Hall, and then you turn around and just a few steps away is the house where George Washington, when he was president during those early years, lived, and not only where he lived, but where he enslaved nine people.
Michael Cord· Guest1:11
Austin, Paris, Hercules, Christopher Shields, Richmond, Giles, Oney Judge, Moll.
Adrian Florido· Host1:21
Michael Cord is reading their names, etched onto a wall at the site of Washington's house. Cord's a lawyer and an activist,