THE PENNSYLVANIA ABOLITION SOCIETY  

Organized in 1775 as
The Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery,
and for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage,
and for Improving the Condition of the African Race

PENNSYLVANIA ABOLITION SOCIETY STATEMENT
ON REMOVAL OF PRESIDENT'S HOUSE SLAVERY MEMORIAL SIGNAGE

The Pennsylvania Abolition Society joins the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and many other historical and cultural organizations and faith communities in calling for the restoration of the signage that was removed from the President’s House site in Independence National Historical Park on January 22, 2026. A sign commemorating the activities of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society was among those removed, and as we remain an active organization, we feel it is our duty to respond.

The failure to abolish the institution of slavery in order to secure the support of slave-holding states is the original sin that marred our nation’s founding. The repercussions of that failure reverberate to this day despite being obscured by centuries of national mythmaking. The Pennsylvania Abolition Society is older than the United States and has worked since 1775 to end slavery and improve the lives of African Americans. Our first president was Benjamin Franklin and our work continues with the awarding of small grants to organizations that align with our original mission.

It is an undisputed fact that George Washington was an enslaver; that he held nine enslaved servants at the President’s House; and that he rotated his enslaved servants out of Philadelphia every six months in full knowledge that he was evading compliance with the 1788 amendment to Pennsylvania’s 1780 Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery. Two of these servants self-emancipated by escape and were never caught, despite the Washingtons’ continued pursuit.

The signage at the site sets the lives of these nine people in the context of the legal, political,  and economic environment of the time. This is a story that needs to be told and is best told at this site: the only White House that ever existed in Philadelphia; Washington’s only residence in Philadelphia; and one of the very few (if not the only) federal sites in Philadelphia on which enslaved people were housed.

We protest the current Administration’s attempts to whitewash our history. The unhealed wound that is the legacy of slavery will continue to fester until we come to terms with our shared history – all of it, the good and the bad alike.

[Pennsylvania Abolition Society homepage]