Fort Sumter Sullivan's Island Bench Being Flagged for Violating President's Executive Order

Sullivan’s Island across from Fort Sumter, is the site of the important Civil War fortification Fort Moultrie. Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historic Site protects the two forts. In 2008 a bench was installed on Sullivan’s Island honoring the Nobel Prize winning author Tony Morrison and dedicated to the many enslaved Africans who first set foot in the United States at Sullivan’s Island. That bench has been flagged for being in violation of the president’s 2025 Executive Order on how the Park Service tells American history.

This bench is on National Park property. Here is the bench.

The bench has this dedicatory plaque on it.

It also has this plaque on the ground saying that on this island slaves were brought from Africa.

Last year the president issued one of his first Executive Orders calling for the National Park Service (NPS) to restore “sanity” in telling United States history. In the Fall of 2025 the Interior Department ordered individual sites to identify signage and exhibits that violate the new executive order. I have been examining the sites which have submitted controversial exhibits to their superiors for removal or rewriting. At the end of February, insiders at the Interior Department leaked those exhibits which are being considered. The photos in this article were taken by employees of the Interior Department and submitted as potentially violative of the Executive Order.

The president’s Executive Order says that some of the National Parks harm the “United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.” The president says that proper history should “foster unity.” He writes that “Rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame.” The president sketches out how the National Park Service should approach history:

“It is the policy of my Administration to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing. ”