Raina Yancey’s mother was a park ranger at Independence National Historical Park, and some of her earliest memories come from summers spent soaking up the history of the place.
“As a kid, my mom took me to work with her, and I was always running around the park and absorbing all the history,” Yancey said. “Those years are really what inspired me to do what I do now.”
Yancey today is a tour guide and founder of The Black Journey, a walking tour of Philly’s Black history that includes visiting Independence National Historical Park. Yancey started The Black Journey out of her love for the history of the park and said it’s a way to continue her mother’s work.
Last week, more than a dozen Independence NHP exhibits that highlighted the presence of enslaved people at the site and candidly addressed the country’s legacy of slavery were flagged for review in accordance with an executive order from the Trump administration.
On Saturday, over 100 historians, faith leaders and residents gathered steps away from the Liberty Bell to protest the prospective removal of exhibits and defend the integrity of a slavery-focused exhibit at the President’s House site at 6th and Market streets. They included some of the Black activists who were key to the creation of the exhibits, working between 2002 and 2010 to advocate for a fuller telling of the site’s history.
According to internal documents obtained by the New York Times, the National Park Service will evaluate materials at the President’s House Site, the Benjamin Franklin Museum, the Second Bank, Independence Hall and Independence Mall to determine whether they contain information that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living.”
‘I will keep running the tour’
“I take issue particularly with the ‘inappropriate’ label,” Yancey said. “It’s not inappropriate. It’s my history and the history of my ancestors. So for our history to be excluded, it’s painful and hurtful.”
If the exhibits were to be removed or altered after review, Yancey believes it would only make her work more important as her tour company would have to in some ways replace, rather than complement, the exhibits at the national park.
“[We’ll be] doubling down, providing even more tours to share even more history with our visitors from all around the world,” Yancey said in discussing how she would respond to the removal of the exhibits. “We’re independent. So I will keep running the tour as long as I have breath in my body.”
Six of the displays Yancey may have to make up for in future tours are at the President’s House Site, where George Washington and John Adams lived. These exhibits highlight the contrast between freedom and slavery in America’s founding years and memorialize those enslaved by Washington who lived in Philadelphia.
‘A slap in the face’
For Rebecca Fisher, the co-founder of Beyond the Bell Tours, the exhibits at the President’s House Site were the inspiration for starting her tour business.
Beyond the Bell offers tours highlighting LGBTQ+ people and women’s contributions to history, as well as parts of the past that Fisher feels aren’t properly represented in other tours.
“Other tours weren’t necessarily talking about slavery,” Fisher said. “They weren’t
necessarily going into any of the stories that I felt were important for us, particularly like what’s represented at the president’s house.”
The exhibits at risk highlight history that Fisher feels is already underrepresented. That possibility frustrates her.
“I think it’s a slap in the face to the people who worked so tirelessly to get that monument there,” Fisher said. “It’s a step backwards, but it’s also exactly what this country is capable of. It’s an embrace of our worst nature.”
Fisher and Yancey both said they had seen dips in tourists from other countries on their tours and connected that to slippage in America’s international reputation. Neither had heard a negative comment on their tours regarding the exhibits currently at risk, though hey have seen such criticism in online comments.
Fisher said she has seen fewer Canadians on her tours this year, and connected that to the trade conflict between the two countries and President Trump’s statements regarding the possible annexation of Canada by the U.S. Even so, she and Yancey both said it hasn’t affected their businesses economically.
Guide has heard ‘woke’ complaints
Sarah Majors, a tour guide for over six years with Grim Philly, said the tours offered by Yancey and Fisher may cater more to audiences that are more accepting of the exhibits.
Grim Philly highlights more of Philly’s “dark history”, and she said some guests have been critical.
“I’ve had people yell at me or leave the tour because I’m being too ‘woke’ or too political,” Majors said. “It’s few and far between, but definitely has happened.”
Major said her tour group members are looking for entertainment more than education. Even so, she feels an obligation to “sound the alarm” and let tour participants know that some exhibits are currently under scrutiny. She expects to hear negative comments about the exhibits from some participants.
“You’re welcome to express your opinion. That’s the beauty of living in a country with freedom of speech. But I can’t change reality for you,” Majors said. “I’m not going to contribute to not telling the truth.”
The Trump administration has said it will remove or screen from view all material found to be inappropriate by Sept. 17, 2025.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
