Albert DerMovsesian of Willow Grove was featured by WHYY for his efforts to restore the slavery exhibits at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia on July 4.

The National Park Service removed the exhibits in January. One month later, a federal judge ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to restore them.

The displays were taken down in accordance with President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order which states that the government must “take action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers or similar properties within the Department’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

Governor Josh Shapiro of Abington Township filed an amicus brief in late January in support of the City of Philadelphia’s federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior and other federal entities. Senator Art Haywood of Abington Township published an opinion piece in February in The Philadelphia Tribune titled “Exhibit’s removal is a harmful act of enslavement denial“.

DerMovsesian posted large re-creations of the exhibit’s missing panels, WHYY said.

“My grandfather is from Armenia; I know what it’s like to have your history erased,” DerMovsesian told WHYY. “I know they’ll get torn down, but hopefully there’s enough people here today for the holiday that they’ll be seen and maybe it’ll inspire someone else to do the same.”

City Councilmember Rue Landau, a 1987 graduate of Cheltenham High School, attended the event alongside Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, WHYY said.

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Photo: Michael Yanow/NurPhoto/Getty Images/File