NPS Restores Web Page about Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman

The National Park Service restored a web page about the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman after outrage erupted over edits that “whitewashed” the page.

The page had been edited to remove Tubman’s image and downplay enslavement of Black people. As an example, it originally opened with a quotation from Tubman and a couple of extensive paragraphs that began with

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. Wherever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape.

The edited version called the railroad “one of the most significant expressions of the American civil rights movement” and described how it “bridged the divides of race, religion, sectional differences, and nationality.”

NPS spokeswoman Rachel Pawlitz said via email:

Changes to the Underground Railroad page on the National Park Service’s website were made without approval from NPS leadership nor Department leadership. The webpage was immediately restored to its original content. 

It is unclear who made the extensive edits and redactions to the page, although this appears to be part of Donald Trump’s campaign to remove all hints of equity, inclusion, diversity and what he regards as “improper ideology” from everything.

Click here for more details.

Click here for a side by side comparison of the edited page with its archived version.