Trump Orders National Parks to Remove Historic Photo of Former Slave
President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered the removal of photographs related to slavery from national parks in the U.S.
According to a report by The Washington Post on Monday, the Trump administration has ordered the removal of signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks, including a famous photograph of a former slave known as The Scourged Back.
The 1863 photograph, taken by William D. McPherson and J. Oliver, shows a formerly enslaved man named Peter with severe whipping scars across his back in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The Scourged Back became one of the most widely circulated photos of the abolitionist movement during the American Civil War. The image solidified public support for the abolition of slavery and remains one of the most significant photos of 19th-century America.
This photo is among dozens of slavery-related exhibits at national parks that the Trump administration has reportedly ordered removed.
According to four anonymous sources cited by The Washington Post, Trump directed the removal of such material under his March executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The order instructs the Interior Department to purge monuments and historic sites of content reflecting a “corrosive ideology” that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living.”
The sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, tell The Washington Post that National Park Service (NPS) officials are applying the order broadly to content addressing racism, sexism, slavery, gay rights, and persecution of Indigenous people. Images reportedly under review by the Trump administration “include signs referring to racial discrimination and the hostility of White people.”
The Washington Post reports that Trump’s order targeted the removal of information and signage at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia and at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, where George Washington held nine enslaved people.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the NPS says that all signage is being reviewed, without confirming any specific removal.
“Interpretive materials that disproportionately emphasize negative aspects of U.S. history or historical figures, without acknowledging broader context or national progress, can unintentionally distort understanding rather than enrich it,” the NPS spokesperson says.
It comes a month after Trump criticized the Smithsonian Museums in a post on Truth Social, calling them “out of control” and too “woke” for sharing images of slavery.
Image credits: Header photo by William D. McPherson and J. Oliver/Public Domain.
