The National Park Service has ordered staff to remove content that runs afoul of a Trump administration order to stamp out “negative” depictions of U.S. history, including the well-known photo of a formerly enslaved Black man, his back twisted with scars from whippings, displayed at a national monument in Georgia.
The order to remove the photo from an exhibit panel at Fort Pulaski National Monument on the outskirts of Savannah was relayed to park staff, according to two people briefed on the matter. They were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about internal agency decisions.
Several other parks in the country have received similar directions as part of an agencywide review of how parks depict U.S. history, mandated earlier this year by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the people said. The secretary’s order came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March accusing museums and federal institutions of fostering national shame by focusing on negative aspects of the country’s history. The Washington Post and The New York Times first reported on the order to remove the photo.
The 1863 photo — one of three images taken of a man who escaped slavery that is often referred to as “The Scourged Back” — was used during the Civil War by abolitionists to galvanize support for emancipation by showing the cruelty of slavery.
