Attorney Michael Coard, left, and Rosalyn Mcpherson, right, address concerned community members at Mother Bethel AME Church on Monday evening on next steps in protecting the exhibit at Sixth and Market that honors the nine enslaved by former President George Washington. TRIBUNE PHOTO / KYLAN WATSON Dozens of concerned community members gathered at Mother Bethel AME Church earlier this week to discuss next steps in protecting the Philadelphia exhibit that honors the nine enslaved by former President George Washington. Over the summer, President Donald Trump started a review of National Park exhibits, which included the “The President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,” with the intention to remove content that “disparaged America.” The exhibit at Sixth and Market was on the list and scheduled to be removed, but movement by federal authorities to shut the site has not happened. Leaders of the resistance group encouraged more people to get involved and connect with the community. “Overwhelmingly successful,” said Michael Coard, a criminal defense attorney and leader of Avenging The Ancestors Coalition, known as ATAC. Coard is one of the leaders of the movement to protect the display. “What I mean by that is this: after the president announced sometime in July that this site could be targeted, we expanded ATAC, now all that work might be for naught so now we need to strengthen, expand, and build our army.” That’s exactly what the group did on Monday. Coard stated the group went from a smaller movement to a bigger movement now called the Slavery House Memorial Alliance. The group includes a wide range of people from lawyers to tour guides. “Because I am not nice about this, we are facing an emerging fascist movement,” said Richard Brand, a concerned citizen and speaker at the event. “There will be an effort to wipe away our American history, and it starts here, we’re first because what happens here will determine what happens all over the United States.” Brand said he wants to see more people get involved in the movement. During Monday’s meeting, the group outlined its goals which included: strategic opposition to censorship; to meet with a broad-based coalition of people; and to ensure that everyone has a united voice, among other things. The group also announced the formation of committees dedicated to making sure that they include as many voices as possible. “To think about what’s happening down the street, it is not an accident that Richard and Flora Allen were allowed to purchase this plot,” said the Rev. Carolyn Cavaness, pastor of Mother Bethel AME church in its founders. “Here’s a place, which stands for and certainly brings those ideals to life, and here we are in total support of certainly the connection that we know is between Mother Bethel and the President’s House.” During the public comments section of the event attendees suggested the group’s leaders engage Philly’s academic and scholarly community, have a social media presence to get young people involved and not rely on old media, and that people use their community involvement to increase participation. “We all have the message,” said Jeff Heart, an attendee at the meeting. “This is going great.” Heart expressed that he would do his part to get the message out and raise his voice to help people understand what is going on at the President’s House. Many of the attendees shared his sentiment and were encouraged to help more get involved in the organization. “So, there are letter-writing campaigns happening and we’re engaging elected officials,” said Rosalyn McPherson, one of the lead organizers. “We’re organizing so we can even take that plan to the powers that be.” McPherson said the group is in touch with influencers in all areas of professional fields. There is a plan to create a blueprint to help activists and leaders in other parts of the country fight attempts at censorship. “What the president did by announcing a potential shutdown of the sight he poked the bear, but once he announced that as of September 17 [2025], the site could be potentially shut down, we got folks that we weren’t really working with before, the best way to describe this is the president poked the bear and now the army is stronger and even better.” Stay informed and connected — subscribe to The Philadelphia Tribune NOW! Click Here Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don’t Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don’t knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the ‘Report’ link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
https://www.phillytrib.com/news/local_news/group-lays-out-next-steps-in-protecting-philly-site-that-honors-nine-slaves-from-trump/article_8e78ec01-1459-4a5b-ae34-f45ef8955f8c.html
Group lays out next steps in protecting Philly site that honors nine slaves from Trump’s order
