A large image of and a quote from Harriet Tubman have been removed from a National Park Service webpage about the Underground Railroad, following several prominent changes to government websites under the Trump administration.
A comparison on the Wayback Machine between the webpage on January 21 and March 19 shows that the large image of Tubman – the railroad’s most famous “conductor,” lauded for helping scores of people escape slavery – has been swapped with a series of five commemorative stamps showing Tubman alongside William Still, Catherine Coffin, Thomas Garrett and Frederick Douglass. All five aided enslaved people seeking freedom. The stamps tout “Black/White” cooperation.
A quote from Tubman about her experience coordinating the clandestine network for slaves seeking freedom also no longer appears on the NPS page.
The Washington Post first reported on the changes.
The focus of the text also changed significantly, comparison shows.
The new page does not mention slavery until the third paragraph, and cuts a reference to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 entirely. Previously, the article started with a description of enslaved peoples’ efforts to free themselves and the organization of the Underground Railroad after the Fugitive Slave Act, the article now starts with two paragraphs that emphasize the “American ideals of liberty and freedom.”
The first sentence of the page describes the Underground Railroad as “one of the most significant expressions of the American civil rights movement.”
