PHILADELPHIA — Dozens of preservation and historical organizations from the Philadelphia area have signed onto a letter addressed to President Donald Trump’s secretary of the interior opposing the potential changes or removal of more than a dozen exhibits about slavery at Independence National Historical Park that could occur in a little over a week.

The letter, obtained by The Inquirer, marks the first time a significant coalition of Philadelphia’s preservation and historical groups have coordinated widespread opposition to Trump’s executive order that aims to sanitize American history at national parks.

Forty-five organizations backed the letter, circulated by the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia and mailed to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Monday.

Prominent signatories include the Betsy Ross House, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Officials, including Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, U.S. Sens. John Fetterman, D.-Pa., and Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle, D.-Pa., and Dwight Evans, D.-Pa., were copied on the letter.

“History is not mythology,” the letter states. “It does not present or reinforce false narratives. When researched and analyzed with depth and scholarship, history captures the complete record of idealism and injustice, progress and regression in our shared journey toward a more perfect union. To eliminate or revise ‘these truths,’ glorious or not, is to deny the lived experiences of millions of Americans and perpetuate the harms of ignorance.”

The fate of the slavery exhibits at Independence Park remains in limbo as the National Park Service has not yet communicated whether the park will need to take further steps to change or remove any displays, bypassing the agency’s deadline for doing so. Displays could be edited or removed by Sept. 17.

The organizations say any attempts to edit historical sites will “undermine the integrity of public memory,” including at Independence Park, where exhibits about slavery at the President’s House Site, the Benjamin Franklin Museum, Independence Hall, and other locations were flagged by park staff for the Trump administration’s review.

Most of the at-risk exhibits are at the President’s House, which memorializes the nine people President George Washington enslaved there during his presidency. The site portrays the dichotomy between slavery and liberty amid the founding of America.

Any exhibit removals or replacements is “ahistorical and un-American,” the group added.

The looming threats to some of Philadelphia’s most historic exhibits comes as the city and the nation are preparing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America next year. Other iconic sites in Philadelphia are not subject to Trump’s executive order because they’re not overseen by the National Park Service, including the Betsy Ross House, which is owned by the nonprofit Historic Philadelphia Inc.

Since the jeopardized exhibits at Independence Park were reported by The Inquirer in late July, it’s become a battle to protect these displays and portray the true story of America to the expected of influx of tourists in 2026.

Avenging the Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), which signed the Preservation Alliance’s letter, has been one of the leading advocacy groups of that battle, particularly when it comes to the President’s House Site. The Black-led group helped shape the site’s creation 23 years ago to center the stories of the nine people Washington enslaved there.

ATAC has held a rally and a public town hall meant to catalyze and strategize public opposition to the Trump administration’s attempts to change history.

Roz McPherson, the original project director of the President’s House Site who is helping lead the ATAC coalition to protect the exhibit, said Monday it’s crucial to have the letter’s signatories as allies during this moment.

“These are all folks who are committed to American history, especially as we prepare for 2026 and beyond,” McPherson said.

Some signatories also hope the letter spurs local elected officials to speak out on the jeopardized sites.

Officials “should be entirely resistant to any attempts to rewrite history at Sixth and Market,” said Sam Katz, executive producer of History Making Productions, and known for his runs for mayor in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Faye Anderson, a preservationist whose group, All That Philly Jazz, signed on to the letter said leaders must respond because officials were instrumental in developing the President’s House Site in the early 2000s.

“Resistance is in the DNA of Philadelphia,” said Anderson who is working to preserve the President’s House Site digitally with the help of artificial intelligence.

Philadelphians, including Anderson, have worked to archive the sites at Independence Park in recent months in anticipation of removal or edits. The architecture firm responsible for designing the President’s House Site also penned a statement, with the Design Advocacy Group, opposing changes to the integrity of the site.

By orchestrating this statement, the Preservation Alliance is ensuring that “this fight is not just simply a fight that has to be waged by ATAC” and the issue reaches a wider audience, said the Rev. Mark Tyler, historiographer at the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a coalition leader alongside McPherson.

“It also demonstrates that this is not just one particular group that’s saying the story is important,” Tyler said. “This is Philadelphia saying that this story is important.”

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