(The Hill) – The National Parks Service (NPS) has removed a reference to abolitionist Harriet Tubman from a web page dedicated to the subway railway.
For years, the Underground Railroad park pages featured prominent photographs of Tubman.
“The Underground Railroad refers to resistance to enslavement by escape and flight until the end of the Civil War — refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain freedom by escaping bondage,” the Page first reads.
Born into slavery in Maryland, Tubman fled around 1849 after learning that she and her brother would be sold. She returned to Maryland’s East Coast more than dozens of times, directing many others at their disposal, and perhaps the most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad.
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Now, NPS has removed Tubman’s photos from web pages dedicated to trail, river and canal systems. Instead, there are images of commemorative postage stamps of people who helped others escape slavery. Tubman’s Stamp is featured in this assortment.
However, the webpage introduction was changed to describe the Underground Railroad as “one of the most important expressions of the American Civil Rights Movement that filled racial boundaries.” The webpage has also changed the phrase “enslaved African Americans” to “slaved workers.”
Neither the NPS, which oversees the park, nor the Home Office, responded immediately to Hill’s request for comment.
While Tubman-only web pages will continue to be available on the NPS website, Underground Railroad pages are the latest to be changed as the Trump administration cracks down on diversity, equity and inclusive efforts.
This change was first noted in a review by the Washington Post. This has discovered dozens of pages have been edited since President Donald Trump declared his duties in January.
The editor included the removal of references to slavery, but others removed or mitigated the struggles that Black Americans had endured in the fight for their rights.
Other pages have been completely removed, including examining the ownership of Benjamin Franklin’s enslaved people.
Trump said he would look into historic institutions last month when he signed an executive order directing the Smithsonian facility to eliminate “splitting narratives.”
The order to “restore truth and sanity in American history” directs Vice President J.D. Vance to oversee institutional racism, sexism, or exclusion from all federal property to any other elements of history that cast the country in “negative light.”
Many viewed this order as a direct threat to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington. It has a self-proclaimed mission to “capture and share the unashing truth of African American history and culture, and to “illuminate the contributions, struggles and victory that have shaped our nation.”
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Trump’s orders denounced some of the exhibits at the Smithsonian, including the NMAAHC. The museum should “remind the Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress to become a more perfect union, and an unparalleled record of advancing freedom, prosperity and human prosperity,” he said.
“The museums in our country’s capital should be a place for individuals to learn, and should not be exposed to the divisive narratives that distort ideological indoctrination or our shared history,” the order states.
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