As the Trump administration’s anti-DEI campaign continues across the country, efforts by federal agencies to erase diversity and Black history are becoming more ridiculous. The latest example of this phenomenon involves somehow whitewashing the history of the Underground Railroad.
As reported by The Washington Post, the National Park Service has changed the Underground Railroad page of its website since Trump took office. By using internet archives to compare the version of the website posted in late March to earlier versions, the news outlet has confirmed that the page has been altered to downplay the significance of slavery and Black people to the Underground Railroad.
Gone is the opening language stating that “the Underground Railroad — the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War — refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage.” Instead, the new language describes the Underground Railroad as “one of the most significant expressions of the American civil rights movement” and an effort that “bridged the divides of race.” A prominent picture of Harriet Tubman has also been removed, and it was replaced by a series of photos of postage stamps that depict her face alongside that of other “conductors,” both white and Black.
‘Offensive and absurd’ changes
The Washington Post identified dozens of other changes to websites operated by the National Park Service in order to downplay slavery or resistance to racism. References to historical figures like Benjamin Franklin or one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence owning slaves have been removed. A reference to “enslaved African Americans” was changed to “enslaved workers.” Posts about John Brown, leader of one of the largest slave rebellions in American history, and the Little Rock Nine were also edited, the paper reported.
The changes to the government-operated websites come amid a flurry of efforts to comply with Trump’s anti-DEI orders. These efforts have included hundreds of books being flagged for potential removal from the Naval Academy library, including works about Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Einstein. Even with these other changes, the attempt to sanitize the history of slavery and the Underground Railroad is especially egregious. Historian and Underground Railroad expert Fergus Bordewich called the changes “both offensive and absurd,” telling CNN that “to oversimplify history is to distort it.”
For now, the Trump administration seems fine with distorting history and diminishing the legacy of racism and the accomplishments of Black people and other marginalized groups. While some of its changes, like removing information about the Tuskegee Airmen, have been reversed after outrage, it remains to be seen whether or not the full story of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad will be restored.
