In its fight to restore the President’s House exhibit, the Avenging The Ancestors Coalition’s strategy is to “raise hell in the streets and raise issues in the courts,” the group’s leader, attorney Michael Coard, said.
The former tactic was on display Tuesday afternoon, as a large crowd rallied in front of the site’s bare brick walls and blocked Market Street.
“We’re confident about winning in the courts,” Coard told reporters after the event. “We know we’re going to win in the streets.”
The National Park Service took down the exhibit Jan. 22, in response to President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order directing his administration to remove “descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times)" from all national parks.
Brick walls at the President’s House recreate the footprint of the long-demolished executive mansion, which was home to presidents George Washington and John Adams prior to the completion of the White House. The installation sits outside the entrance to the Liberty Bell Center, at 6th and Market streets.
The exhibit that was removed examines the contradiction of slavery and freedom in early America, with a particular emphasis on the stories of the nine enslaved individuals Washington kept at the property.
Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration immediately sued United States Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and the NPS.
Days after an initial hearing in the case, a federal judge and attorneys involved in the case inspected the 34 panels, which are being held in a NPS-controlled facility on the grounds of the National Constitution Center.
ATAC filed a brief in support of the city’s lawsuit, and Coard was among those who were allowed to tour the site last week.
Though he was not permitted to disclose the exact location, Coard described the building as a “large garage-type structure." He said he noticed dents, scratches and marks on the glass panels, while the metallic pieces were beginning to bow into a U-shape.
“They weren't destroyed, but they were slightly damaged and defiled,” he told rally-goers Wednesday. “But more than any of that, they were desecrated.”
Attorneys for the city, at the direction of the judge, submitted a revised motion for a preliminary injunction Feb. 6. They are requesting a court order compelling the Trump administration to restore the exhibit.
The revised document argues that the NPS’s unilateral action violated a 1950 covenant between the federal government and the city to establish Independence National Historical Park, along with later agreements specifically related to the President’s House, which opened 16 years ago.
Lawyers representing the Trump administration have asserted that the changes were within the discretion of the park service, which manages the INHP sites. They have until Friday to respond to the city’s amended motion.
In the three weeks since the move, advocates have posted signs and drawn messages on the gray, blank spaces where the panels once hung. Some feature images of the historical information presented in the exhibit.
“To erase slavery is to erase American history,” said Yvonne Studevan, a descendant of Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, during the rally. “Our history should not be erased.”
An article in Wednesday’s Inquirer portrayed City Council President Kenyatta Johnson as being more willing to directly confront the White House, amid aggressive ICE tactics in Minneapolis and the President’s House saga. He had strong words for the president Tuesday afternoon.
“We will continue to fight to make sure that Donald Trump will not whitewash the history here in the city of Philadelphia,” Johnson said. “This is a movement. It's about all of us coming together and standing together against a regime that cares nothing about none of us who are out here today advocating and fighting for American history.
“It's shameful that as we celebrate the 250th celebration of the birthplace of America that we have to be out here today advocating and fighting to make sure our true history – not his story – is known.”
While plenty of elected Democrats showed up at Tuesday’s rally, efforts to restore the exhibit appear to be broader, crossing political lines.
“I'm proud to be here to say that I support this fight,” attorney George Bochetto, a well-known Republican, said to the crowd. “This is the exact same erasure of history that I've been fighting all over the country.”
Bochetto has made headlines for his work representing defenders of two controversial statues – the Christopher Columbus monument at South Philadelphia’s Marconi Plaza and the sculpture of former Mayor Frank Rizzo that previously sat outside the Municipal Services Building. He also filed legal briefs in defense of President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial.
Coard bounded onto the stage and embraced Bochetto, adding, “Anytime you see a conservative Republican and a Pan-African socialist standing together, it's a wonderful day.”
