Liberty Square Entry Point to Ft. Sumter Has Exhibits Under Review for Violating President's Executive Order

Liberty Square in Charleston is known to almost everyone visiting Fort Sumter in the Harbor. The park is near where visitors get on the ferry ride out to the fort. In the 1990s the site became a park dedicated to telling the story of the Transatlantic African slave trade. The park has the Fort Sumter Visitor Center at Liberty Square, which is the most popular place to catch a ferry to Ft. Sumter. In the last few decades, the Visitor Center has put in exhibits that also tell the story of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The park was one of the biggest slave debarkation sites in the Western Hemisphere. Approximately 100,000 enslaved Africans arrived here.

The National Park Service has submitted photos from the Visitors Center to the Interior Department that might violate the president’s Executive Order on the telling of our nation’s history. A month ago, links to the photos, taken by Interior Department’s employees of these controversial exhibits have been leaked. Here are the exhibits that may be withdrawn or edited.

The photos begin with an explanation by Abraham Lincoln denying that he is trying to make Black and white men more equal.

The next panel describes how South Carolina was dependent on enslaved labor.

The famous illustration of an escaped slave with scars from whipping on his back has also been pointed out for violating the president’s Executive Order. This same illustration has been flagged at other parks.

Near there is a panel displaying quotes from around the time of the Civil War on slavery.

The next panel focuses on the Dred Scott Decision.

When I toured Ft. Sumter four decades ago, what is now Liberty Square did not mention slavery at all. Perhaps it may no longer mention it in the future.

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. ”