by Stacy Jackson
April 9, 2025
Historians and others say the changes to the language on the National Park Service website “erases history” and “changes the truth.”
The National Park Service has officially restored slavery terms previously changed on its Underground Railroad page, which enraged Black Americans and historians.
“Changes to the Underground Railroad page on the National Park Service’s website were made without approval from NPS leadership nor Department (of Interior) leadership. The webpage was immediately restored to its original content,” said Rachel Pawlitz, a spokesperson for the park service, according to The Baltimore Banner. Before the reinstatement of language, words like “African American,” “bondage,” “enslavement,” “self-emancipation,” and “escape” had been edited to be excluded from the website.
Historians and others were thrown for a loop when Harriet Tubman was excluded from the page. Language regarding Black American pioneers like Tubman had been temporarily changed to “ordinary men and women coming together in harmony, united to pursue the extraordinary mission of helping those in their journey to freedom.”
Tina Wyatt, Tubman’s great-great-great grandniece, said the changes in terminology “whitewashes the importance of what she did” and “changes the truth.” Scholars, museum staff, descendants, and local site keepers learned about the National Park Service’s website changes through an Underground Railroad Facebook group.
“Why erase this history?” questioned “Bound for the Promised Land” best-selling author Kate Clifford Larson. “What are they feeling threatened about? I’m not clear on it. It’s just filled with hate. Does it feel satisfying to racists to erase this history?”
U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen was shocked when news of the website’s changes reached him during Monday’s town hall meeting of the Anne Arundel County Caucus of African American Leaders. “That’s obviously outrageous,” the Maryland Democrat said. “You can’t talk about history without slavery. You can’t talk about the Underground Railroad without its conductor, Harriet Tubman.”
National Park Service spokesperson claimed the outcry about the edits was dismissive of the hard work of the agency’s employees and invalidated the National Park Service’s commitment to telling complex narratives. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitors Center in Church Creek, a part of the National Park Service network, has seen no changes to its website, as has the National Hampton Historic Site for the Towson plantation. Historians are specific in their word choice regarding the stories of slavery. Preferred words are “freedom seeker” and “enslaved peoples” rather than “runaway” or “slaves.”
Annapolis historian Janice Hayes-Williams says the terminology is important amid President Donald Trump’s attempts to remove the true language of Black history and erase the accomplishments of Black Americans like Tubman.
The website’s original content was restored as of Monday.
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