For 16 years, an exhibit at Washington’s Philadelphia home, “The President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation”—situated in the shadow of the Liberty Bell’s unambiguous nod to freedom’s ring—highlighted that difficult history. But in late January, a cadre of federal workers yanked placards from the site’s brick walls in response to a March 2025 executive order from the White House that shunned complication. In the order, President Trump had charged the secretary of the interior with ensuring that public monuments “focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”