Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) on Wednesday criticized President Donald Trump‘s efforts to overhaul museums and national parks.
“There is an organized effort by the federal government to erase our shared history and whitewash our museums and monuments,” Shapiro said in a social media post. “But they don’t have the power to dictate our values in Pennsylvania. Here, we learn from our full history — and we use it to build a better future.”
Shapiro made the comments in the context of the Trump administration’s plans to change the Philadelphia President’s House site, which memorializes nine of George Washington’s slaves.
Thirteen items in six displays at the museum, all of which are related to slavery, were flagged by park staff during their summer review of museums with orders from Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Displays targeted for removal include “Life Under Slavery” and “The House and the People Who Worked & Lived In It.”
The Trump administration has said national parks have a Sept. 17 deadline to change or remove content it believes promotes an anti-American agenda.
Trump also signed an executive order in March targeting the Smithsonian Museums, calling for a “comprehensive internal review” of eight of its museums ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
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In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that Smithsonian museums were “OUT OF CONTROL” for emphasizing the negative parts of American history, including “how bad slavery was.”
The president has been at odds with several cultural institutions since returning to office in January.