Federal Judge Invokes ‘1984’ While Ordering Trump Administration to Restore Slavery Exhibit in Philadelphia Park

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore an exhibit about slavery that was removed last month, citing an infamous warning about totalitarianism in the process.

On Monday, Feb. 16, U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe granted a preliminary injunction in favor of the City of Philadelphia over the federal government’s alteration of The President’s House at Independence National Historical Park.

The site includes the presidential residence used by the first two U.S. presidents, George Washington and John Adams. In 2010, an open-air exhibit was installed there as a memorial to nine people enslaved by Washington at the time.

On Jan. 23, National Park Service workers removed 34 panels and video displays focused on slavery, including sections titled “Life Under Slavery” and “The Dirty Business of Slavery.”

In her memorandum, Judge Rufe referenced George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 as she halted the administration’s efforts to strip references to slavery from the historic site.

“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims—to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts. It does not,” she wrote.

Rufe said the removal was unlawful, “arbitrary and capricious,” and caused “irreparable harm” by erasing historical truth and undermining public trust. She ordered that all panels and video exhibits be reinstalled, and said any further alterations must be made only with a “mutual written agreement” with the City of Philadelphia.

An NPS worker said at the time that they were “just following my orders” while removing the displays.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle defended the changes in a statement, saying President Trump was working to “restore truth and common sense” to U.S. institutions and ensure the nation is “honoring the fullness of the American story” rather than “distorting it in the name of left-wing ideology.”

The dispute follows a March 2025 executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which specifically criticized programming tied to Independence National Historical Park. The order argued that the previous administration promoted training it viewed as hostile to “Western foundations” and claimed rangers were pressured to present history through the lens of racial identity. It also accused a broader “revisionist movement” of replacing “objective facts” with an ideologically driven narrative.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro condemned the exhibit removal on social media, writing that Trump would “take any opportunity to rewrite and whitewash our history,” adding, “We learn from our history in Pennsylvania, even when it’s painful.”

The administration has also made changes to exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution. Most recently, the National Portrait Gallery displayed an updated portrait caption for Trump that omits prior references to his impeachments and the Jan. 6 insurrection.