Summary

The National Park Service removed Harriet Tubman’s image and quote from its “Underground Railroad” webpage, along with references to slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act.

The revision now emphasizes “American ideals of liberty” and downplays historical realities.

Historians and scholars condemned the move as a distortion of history and erasure of Tubman’s legacy.

The change aligns with broader Trump administration efforts to eliminate DEI content across federal sites, which critics say suppresses discussions of race, identity, and historical truth.

  • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.ca
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    6 hours ago

    “Yeah, about your pamphlet…I’m not seeing anything about German history between 1939 and 1945.”

    “Everyone was on vacation.”

    “What are you talking about, Germany invaded Poland in 1939.”

    “We were invited! Punch was served. Check with Poland!”

    “You can’t just ignore those years! Thomas Mann fled to America because of Nazism’s stranglehold on Germany!”

    “Nope…He left to manage a Dairy Queen!”

    “A Dairy Queen? That’s preposterous!”

    “I will hear NO MORE insinuations about the German people. NOTHING BAD HAPPENED!”

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Oh, ok, so now Civilization VII is more historically accurate than the National Park Service. That’s… ugh

  • mapmyhike@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    In other news, Harriet Tubman has been collecting social security for 200 years and her remains have been deported back to her own country of El Salvador.

  • Infynis@midwest.social
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    9 hours ago

    This, and all the other sites they’ve taken down, are meant to be freely accessible to everyone. This is what your taxes actually pay for. The government runs a massive research operation, and library, for everyone. This is a book burning.

  • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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    11 hours ago

    what the fuck are they going to ultimately say the underground railroad was? What will they say it was helping who escape? THIS WHOLE THING IS STUPID!

    • archonet@lemy.lol
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      11 hours ago

      “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

      might be a bit pretentious to quote 1984 but boy, try telling me the right wing reality distortion field doesn’t exist.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Soon you’ll only get “Did you mean 'the subway’?” search results with “underground railroad”.

    • papertowels@mander.xyz
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      9 hours ago

      These are the same folks that say the civil war was fought for “states rights”.

      They have no problem with ignoring details.

    • Mister_Feeny@fedia.io
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      11 hours ago

      To be replaced by “Harold Whiteman”, a dapper man of Nordic ancestry, who helped white slaves escape from white slavery with the help of the friendly neighborhood watch organization, the KKK!

    • kinsnik@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      what are you talking about, the underground railroad has always been the 4/5 subway line in NYC that connects the Trump Building in Wall Street with the Trump Tower in 5th Ave, right?

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 hours ago

      This is about flexing their power. They are showing that they won and they are going to force their values down everyone else’s throat.

      Don’t belittle them by calling them pathetic. Call it what it is.

      This is fascism.

      • samus12345@lemm.ee
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        7 hours ago

        Fascism is pathetic. It’s extremely dangerous and causes massive suffering, but it’s also pathetic.

    • ThomasCrappersGhost@feddit.uk
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      6 hours ago

      Yeah, well what’s the end game here …that white USAians never did anything bad, or that African Americans never did anything?

  • Nougat@fedia.io
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    11 hours ago

    “Eliminate DEI content” actually means “government-sponsored open bigotry”.

      • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
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        8 hours ago

        If by “this,” you mean the reference towards Tubman, then you’re wrong. Talking about the accomplishments of anyone who isn’t a straight white Christian man IS promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion! DEI is a good thing! Opposing it is explicitly racist!

        • Dasus@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          It’s genuinely challenging trying to perceive what level of sarcasm you’re on, as a non-American and not hearing the tone of your voice.

          edit my bad I read that poorly, brain fart

          • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
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            7 hours ago

            Literally none. DEI straight up means treating everyone the same. They’re working on giving it some fucked up negative connotations the same way they have with “woke” and “critical race theory,” but if you look at the history and reality of where those words come from and what they mean, it becomes clear they’re playing with language, trying to avoid looking racist to the general public while still implementing racist policy.

            • Dasus@lemmy.world
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              7 hours ago

              Yeah sorry I read that as a negative on some level.

              Like my brain made an “isn’t” an “is” or skipped a “not”.

              That’s why I asked. Thought someone was being like “but won’t someone please think of the straight white men” and then I thought well obviously that must be sarcasm but then the general tone didn’t seem as sarcastic…

              The large bowl of weed I smoked and listening to 8 out of 10 cats while browsing may have contribute to me making that mistake.

              My bad.

              Here, let me contribute by actually promoting content relating to history and especially history of black women in the US.

              The Six Triple Eight

              I loved that movie. I don’t know why but empowerment of minorities and the vindication that they get in movies like that gets me really emotional, especially after a few rums.

  • Rob@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    New quote:

    “Immigrants mysteriously disappeared from their jobs in the South and reappeared in the North. No women were involved in this process.”

    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      And provide some hope? Nah, if they are erasing history then they will just say “No slave ever successfully escaped. They were required by law to be returned if found and the North didn’t follow the law. The North, those law breakers, were trying to pick a fight for decades. The Noble South was attacked and lost their righteous cause due to brotherly betrayal.”

    • Darkard@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      All of the workers in the south worked really hard for their boss and earned a promotion and moved into luxury in the north. All of these people were hardworking Americans and none of them were black