The National Park Service has restored a page on its website about the Underground Railroad after sustaining backlash over its erasure of Harriet Tubman’s central role in the movement.
The agency reversed changes to its webpage about the Underground Railroad on Monday, telling CNN in a statement that the alterations “were made without approval from NPS leadership nor Department leadership.”
The changes on the webpage, which were first reported by The Washington Post, saw references to Tubman’s involvement in the Underground Railroad removed some time around February this year. A comparison between an older, archived version of the webpage from February and a more recent version shows a large photo of Tubman replaced with an image of commemorative U.S. stamps that highlight “Black/White Cooperation,” featuring William Still, Catharine Coffin, Tubman, Thomas Garrett and Frederick Douglass, all of whom were part of the movement.
An NPS spokesperson initially denied changes to the webpage reflected an effort to alter narratives about U.S. history, telling CNN in a statement that “the idea that a couple web edits somehow invalidate the National Park Service’s commitment to telling complex and challenging historical narratives is completely false.”
The change set off criticism from historians and lawmakers. In a post on X, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., attributed the changes to President Donald Trump, whose administration has toppled diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government and in the private sector.
“Trump is trying to rewrite the history of the Underground Railroad — even diminishing its conductor, MD’s own Harriet Tubman,” Van Hollen wrote.
Multiple federal agencies have come under fire for deleting references to nonwhite and LGBTQ historical figures on their webpages, often as part of an effort to comply with Trump’s executive orders. Some of those changes, like the National Park Service’s removal of Tubman, have been reversed after public outcry.
