National Park Service restores Harriet Tubman feature on webpage after criticism over removal
A National Park Service webpage about the Underground Railroad has been restored to its original state months after it was changed to remove abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman from the top of the page.
The "What is the Underground Railroad?" page featured a photo of and quote from Tubman as leading elements on the page, followed by text explaining the historical significance of the Underground Railroad in African American history. The page was altered to remove Tubman in early February, per data from the Wayback Machine, replacing the image with a collage of Postal Service Underground Railroad commemorative stamps highlighting "Black/White Cooperation."
The change also removed Tubman's quote and altered the text to market the Underground Railroad as a bridge for "the divides of race, religion, sectional differences, and nationality" rather than "resistance to enslavement through escape and flight."
Mentions of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 were also deleted before the restoration, along with historical cards of enslaved peoples fighting to reach freedom and a mural of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the first Black regiment made up of those raised in the North. All of these elements have since been added back in their original states.
"The removal of Harriet Tubman's image and quote from the National Park Service's 'Underground Railroad' webpage is concerning," civil rights attorney Ben Crump posted on X while Tubman was still scrubbed from the page. "Tubman's legacy and the resistance of enslaved people must never be diminished. We must stand in the truth of our history!"
Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., argued the removal was "an attack on truth, an attempt to erase history that would help us improve society today, a refusal to be uncomfortable and engaged in changing harmful policies and practices."
MORE: Daughter of 1st Black Marine says it's 'unbelievable' to see 'my dad caught up in DEI'
"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," the NPS said in a statement to ABC News.
A Washington Post investigation published on Friday pointed out these changes and others from the NPS. Its analysis of thousands of NPS webpages found several changes in language to rebrand racially charged moments in American history or remove references to slavery entirely.
A page on Benjamin Franklin's views on slavery was taken down, and some mentions of prominent figures such as Thomas Stone owning enslaved people were omitted.
This comes amid a larger push against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from the Trump administration and an effort to purge DEI from government webpages.
MORE: DOD says it 'mistakenly removed' Jackie Robinson, other content from website amid DEI purge
Last month, the Department of Defense said it "mistakenly removed" Jackie Robinson's Army service as well as other content, including a page that honored the 60th anniversary of U.S. troops, in its effort to remove DEI from its sites.
Actress Viola Davis, who is set to play Tubman in an untitled HBO biopic, took to Instagram on Monday to share comment on the situation, saying the edits were "downplaying Harriet Tubman and slavery."
"Really?!! Harriet Tubman?!!" she wrote in the caption. "Elevating this icon of American History is being diminished?!!! Erased?! Man.....Lord....give us STRENGTH!!!!"
National Park Service restores Harriet Tubman feature on webpage after criticism over removal originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
ICE arrested a California union leader. Does Trump understand what that means?
Unions in California are different from those in other places. More than any state in our troubled country, their ranks are filled with people of color and immigrants. While unions have always been tied closely with the struggles of civil rights, that has become even more pronounced in the years since George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis. In the subsequent national soul-searching, unions were forced to do a bit of their own. But where that conversation has largely broken down for general society under the pressure of President Trump's right-wing rage, it took hold inside of unions to a much greater degree — leading to more leadership from people of color, sometimes younger leadership and definitely an understanding from the rank and file that these are organizations that fight far beyond the workplace. Which is why the arrest of David Huerta, president of SEIU-USWW and SEIU California, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday is going to have a major impact on the coming months as deportations continue. 'They have woke us up,' Tia Orr told me Saturday morning. She's the executive director of the 700,000-strong Service Employees International Union California, of which Huerta is a part, and the first African American and Latina to lead the organization. 'And I think they've woke people up across the nation, certainly in California, and people are ready to get to action,' she added. 'I haven't seen that in a long time. I don't know that I've seen something like that before, and so yes, it is going to result in action that I believe is going to be historical.' While unions have voiced their disapproval of mass deportations since the MAGA threat first manifested, their might has not gone full force against them, taking instead a bit of a wait-and-see approach. Well, folks, we've seen. We've seen the unidentified masked men rounding up immigrants across the country and shipping them into life sentences at torturous foreign prisons; we've watched a 9-year-old Southern California boy separated from his father and detained for deportation; and Friday, across Los Angeles, we saw an anonymous military-style force of federal agents sweep up our neighbors, family members and friends in what seemed to be a haphazard and deliberately cruel way. And for those of you who have watched the video of Huerta's arrest, we've seen a middle-aged Latino man in a plaid button-down be roughly pushed by authorities in riot gear until he falls backward, and seems to strike his head on the curb. Huerta was, according to a television interview with Mayor Karen Bass, pepper-sprayed as well. Then he was taken to the hospital for treatment, then into custody, where he remains until a Monday arraignment. U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli wrote on social media that 'Federal agents were executing a lawful judicial warrant at a LA worksite this morning when David Huerta deliberately obstructed their access by blocking their vehicle. He was arrested for interfering with federal officers ... Let me be clear: I don't care who you are—if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted. No one has the right to assault, obstruct, or interfere with federal authorities carrying out their duties.' I have covered protests, violent and nonviolent, for more than two decades. In one of the first such events I covered, I watched an iconic union leader, Bill Camp, sit down in the middle of the road in a Santa suit and refuse to move. Police arrested him. But they managed to do it without violence, and without Camp's resistance. This is how unions do good trouble — without fear, without violence. Huerta understands the rules and power of peaceful protest better than most. The union he is president of — SEIU United Service Workers West — started the Justice for Janitors campaign in 1990, a bottom-up movement that in Los Angeles was mostly powered by the immigrant Latina women who cleaned commercial office space for wages as low as $7 an hour. After weeks of protests, police attacked those Latina workers in June of that year in what became known as the 'Battle of Century City.' Two dozen workers were injured but the union did not back down. Eventually, it won the contracts it was seeking, and equally as important, it won public support. Huerta joined USWW a few years after that incident, growing the Justice for Janitors campaign. The union was and has always been one powered by immigrant workers who saw that collective power was their best power, and Huerta has led decades of building that truth into a practical force. He is, says Orr, an organizer who knows how to bring people together. To say he is a beloved and respected leader in both the union and California in general is an understatement. You can still find his bio on the White House website, since he was honored as a 'Champion of Change,' by President Obama. Within hours of his arrest, political leaders across the state were voicing support. 'David Huerta is a respected leader, a patriot, and an advocate for working people. No one should ever be harmed for witnessing government action,' Gov. Gavin Newsom posted online. Perhaps more importantly, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, speaking for her 15 million members, issued a statement. Huerta 'was doing what he has always done, and what we do in unions: putting solidarity into practice and defending our fellow workers,' she said. 'The labor movement stands with David and we will continue to demand justice for our union brother until he is released.' Similar statements came from the Teamsters and other unions. Solidarity isn't a buzzword to unions. It's the bedrock of their power. In arresting Huerta, that solidarity has been supercharged. Already, union members from across the state are making plans to gather Monday for Huerta's arraignment in downtown Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Stephen Miller, the Santa Monica native and architect of Trump's deportation plans, has said the raids we are seeing now are just the beginning, and that he would like to see thousands of arrests every day, because our immigrant communities are filled with 'every kind of criminal thug that you can imagine on planet earth.' But in arresting Huerta, the battleground has been redrawn in ways we don't fully yet appreciate. No doubt, Miller will have his way and the raids will not only continue, but increase. But also, the unions are not going to back down. 'Right now, just in the last 14 hours, labor unions are joining together from far and wide, communities are reaching out in ways I've never seen,' Orr told me. 'Something is different.' Rosa Parks was just a woman on a bus, she pointed out, until she was something more. George Floyd was just another Black man stopped by police. Until he was something more. Huerta is the something more of these immigration raids — not because he's a union boss, but because he's a union organizer with ties to both people in power and people in fear. The coming months will show what happens when those two groups decide, together, that backing down is not an option.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
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Opinion - Scott Jennings is correct about Wes Moore
Whatever CNN is paying Scott Jennings, it's not enough. His pragmatic, common-sense commentary offering realistic solutions to problems plaguing everyday Americans has become the glue holding the network's evening programming in place. Night after night, Jennings does rhetorical battle with far-left panelists who continually offer up the same two failing lines of attack: They hate Trump, and they believe everything should be viewed and addressed through the prism of identity politics. Surely, the executives at CNN understand that it was precisely those attack lines that enabled Trump to make substantial gains within the Hispanic community, the Black community, young men, independents and even a percentage of Democrats. All these voters switched to Trump because they knew that 'we hate Trump' and 'identity politics' were calculated rants and not a strategy to help keep them safe, lower the cost of essential items, protect their jobs, improve their health care or address the problem of failing public schools. Each evening on CNN, Jennings throws those bread-and-butter issues back at the liberal panelists — and they either sputter to come up with an answer or double down on the attack lines in allegiance to the vocal yet tiny minority making up the far-left wing of the Democratic Party. The next day, various conservative websites then sing the praises of Jennings for sticking it to the Democrats. Except … that is not what he does. Jennings is an honest broker who simply tries to call them as he sees them. His foundation is commonsense and logical, based on his real-world experiences. That acknowledged, Jennings offered up a valid opinion the other night that some Republicans and conservatives undoubtedly wish he had kept to himself — that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) should be taken seriously as we approach 2028. This past Sunday on CNN's 'State of the Union,' Jennings made two statements that got immediate attention. The first: 'I'll defend the Democrats — they are for things. Illegal aliens, you're for boys in girls' sports. That's why you have such struggles right now in your party, because you're not for anything that's on the right side of any of the 80/20 issues that are driving this cultural divide in America.' Jennings's next opinion, about Maryland's Democratic governor, was also worth noting and filing away: 'I think Wes Moore is actually a pretty talented communicator. Moore is interesting, probably more interesting than some of the radicals you have out there, [Jasmine] Crockett, AOC. I mean those are the true leaders of your party right now, but you'd probably be better off replacing them with Moore.' Seconding the problems Democrats are having with voters because of their current 'leaders' and do-nothing policies is Harry Enten, CNN's chief data analyst. During an interview last week, Engen dropped two bombs. The first: 'Take a look at Reuters-IPSOS. What do we see here? Party with a better economic plan. Well in May of 2024, just before Donald Trump was reelected president, Republicans had a nine-point advantage. Look at where we are now in May of 2025. The advantage actually went up by three points. Now Republicans have a 12-point advantage when it comes to the party with a better economic plan.' Next came crushing bad news for Democrats with regard to middle- and working-class Americans. Reported Enten: 'Historically speaking, which is the party of the middle class has been a huge advantage for Democrats. I have polling from NBC going all the way back since 1989, when Democrats held a 23-point advantage. … And now in our latest CNN poll, among registered voters, which is the party of the middle class, it is tied. … Trump and the Republican Party have taken that mantle away. And now a key advantage for Democrats historically has gone. Adios amigos.' And then, on Sam Harris's 'Making Sense' podcast this week, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) — the first openly gay person elected from the Bronx, who has long been a voice for common sense, the working class and the disenfranchised — said this: 'There is a divide between what I would say are two teams in the Democratic Party. 'Team Restraint' and 'Team Resistance.' There are those in Team 'Resistance' who feel like we should react hysterically to everything Donald Trump says or does. And then those who feel like we should pick and choose our battles and be strategic. But I worry that the momentum is on the side of hysterical, hyperbolic resistance.' Obviously, as with the nightly warnings issued by Jennings, Torres is talking about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and others when he speaks of 'hysterical, hyperbolic resistance.' Questions for the Democrats: Is Torres correct? Has the momentum switched to the 'hysterical' and 'hyperbolic'? Is there no appetite in the Democratic Party for commonsense voices like Torres and Moore, who offer up strategies instead of insults? Or is the appetite there and growing, but the party is too afraid to confront its own bullies? No doubt CNN's Jennings will answer those questions and many more as we approach the midterms and the 2028 election. Ignore his opinions and truths at your own political peril. Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
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Opinion - The ‘Trump did it' defense: Colleges' and companies' new excuse to roll back wokeness
'Trump made me do it.' Across the country, this is a virtual mantra being mouthed everywhere from businesses to higher education. Corporations are eliminating woke programs. Why? Trump did it. Universities are eliminating DEI offices and cracking down on campus extremism. Trump did it. Democratic politicians are abandoning far-left policies. Trump did it. For those who lack both courage or conviction, the claim of coercion is often the next best thing. The 'TDI defense' is born. Of course, they did not invent Trump, but they needed him. For years, schools like Harvard and Columbia ignored warnings about the rising antisemitism on campuses. They refused to punish students engaged in criminal conduct, including occupying and trashing buildings. These administrators did not want to risk being tagged by the far-left mob for taking meaningful action. Then the election occurred, and suddenly they were able to blame Trump for doing what they should have been doing all along. Administrators are now cracking down on extreme elements on campuses. At the same time, hundreds of schools are closing DEI offices around the country. Again, most are not challenging the Trump administration's orders on DEI or seeking to adopt more limited responses. They are all in with the move, while professing that they have little choice. In other words, schools are increasingly turning to TDI to end DEI. The legal landscape has changed with an administration committed to opposing many DEI programs as discriminatory and unlawful. However, it is the speed and general lack of resistance that is so notable. In most cases, the Trump administration did not have to ask twice. Trump seemed to 'have them at hello,' as if they were longing for a reason to reverse these trends. Many will continue to fight this fight surreptitiously. For example, shortly before the Trump election, the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted to ban DEI and focus on 'institutional neutrality.' Yet, even Administrators emboldened by the TDI defense are finding resistance in their ranks. For example, UNC Asheville Dean of Students Megan Pugh was caught on videotape, saying that eliminating these offices means nothing: 'I mean we probably still do anyway… but you gotta keep it quiet.' She added, 'I love breaking rules.' The Board, perhaps not feeling the same thrill, reportedly responded by firing her. The same pattern is playing out in businesses. Over the last few weeks, companies ranging from Amazon to IBM have removed references to DEI programs or policies. Bank of America explained, 'We evaluate and adjust our programs in light of new laws, court decisions, and, more recently, executive orders from the new administration.' Once established, these DEI offices tended to expand as an irresistible force within their institutions and companies. Full-time diversity experts demanded additional hirings and policies on hiring, promotion, and public campaigns. Since these experts were tasked with finding areas for 'reform,' their proposals were treated as extensions of that mandate. To oppose the reforms was to oppose the cause. While some executives and administrators supported such efforts, others simply lacked the courage to oppose them. No one wanted to be accused of being opposed to 'equity' or being racist, sexist, or homophobic. The results were continually expanding programs impacting every level of businesses and institutions. Then Trump showed up. Suddenly, these executives and administrators had an excuse to reverse this trend. They could also rely on court decisions that have undermined longstanding claims of advocates that favoring certain groups at the expense of others was entirely lawful. This week, the Supreme Court added to these cases with its unanimous ruling in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, to remove impediments to lawsuits by members of majority groups who are discriminated against. For many years, lower courts have required members of majority groups (white, male, or heterosexual) to shoulder an added burden before they could establish claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In a decision written by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court rejected that additional burden and ordered that everyone must be treated similarly under the law. Many commentators noted that the ruling further undermined the rationales for disparate treatment based on race or other criteria within DEI. In other words, more of these programs are likely to be the subject of federal investigations and lawsuits. Of course, if these executives and administrators were truly committed to the programs in principle, they could resolve to fight in the courts. The alternative is just to blame Trump and restore prior policies that enforce federal standards against all discriminatory or preferred treatment given to employees based on race, sex, religion, or other classifications. Former Vice President Hubert Humphrey once observed that 'to err is human. To blame someone else is politics.' That is evident among politicians. For years, many moderate Democrats voted to support far-left agendas during the Biden administration, lacking the courage or principles to oppose the radical wing of the Democratic Party. Now, some are coming forward to say that the party has 'lost touch with voters.' Rather than admit that their years of supporting these policies were wrong, they blame Trump and argue that the party must move toward the center to survive. The calculus is simple: You never act on principle when you can blame a villain instead. It is not a profile of courage but one of simple convenience. No need for admissions or responsibility — just TDI and done. Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of 'The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
