PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — U.S. Representative Brendan Boyle is introducing new legislation intended to preserve historic monuments in the City of Philadelphia.
The Pennsylvania Congressman announced the ‘Protecting American History Act’ on Independence Mall on Friday.
The Democrat says he will also formally introduce the legislation in Congress.
RELATED: Some President’s House exhibit panels back up as legal fight continues
Some President’s House exhibit panels back up as legal fight continues
The new legislation would require all of the slavery displays removed by the Trump Administration to remain a permanent fixture at the President’s House.
“It is only dictatorships and communist countries that whitewash their histories,” Boyle said. “We are the United States of America. We don’t censure our history, and I’m not going to allow the Trump administration to start censuring our history.”
On Friday, McKenna Brunson with Old City Remembers stood at the exhibit, reading aloud the information from panels that are still missing. The panels were part of an exhibit detailing the history of slavery at the President’s House site.
“It’s important to remember all of the parts of history – not the pretty stuff, not the nice stuff – the stuff that really matters is what they’re taking down and trying to make us forget,” Brunson said.
READ MORE | Panels about George Washington’s slaves reinstalled at President’s House site on Independence Mall
Workers have begun restoring the displays about slavery at the President’s House site in Philadelphia.
The exhibit has been at the center of a lengthy court dispute. The Trump administration removed all 34 panels on January 22, saying they were “disparaging” of American history.
The City of Philadelphia later won a court order requiring the exhibit to be partially reinstalled. The federal government has appealed that order, halting work to fully re-install the panels while the case continues.
Visitors to Independence Mall told Action News they want the exhibit fully restored. Marranda Edwards, visiting from Atlanta, Georgia, said the full history should be on display.
“Good, bad, ugly, we need to know it, it’s a part of our country, it’s a part of the things we were built with,” Edwards said.
A judge ruled this week that the government has until April 1 to respond to the latest filing in the case.
Action News reached out to the federal government for comment, but had not heard back as of Friday.
WATCH: The enslaved lives behind the President’s House controversy
The enslaved lives behind the President’s House controversy
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.