Exclusive: Family of Harriet Tubman ‘angry’ after references removed from National Park Service website

Harriet Tubman’s descendants are incensed over the Trump administration’s attempts to whitewash history by removing references to the legendary abolitionist from the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) website.

Ernestine “Tina” Martin Wyatt, Tubman’s great-great-great-grandniece, told The Emancipator Monday evening that she was “angry this morning after finding out and felt the new statement minimized and misrepresented her role and what was happening in America to have God to call on her in the first place.” She added that President Donald Trump, who once praised Tubman as an American hero who “represents what is best in America and her citizens” in a proclamation during this year’s Black History Month, is trying to return the country to the enslavement era.

“He’s a mess. We know he is targeting us as the Black race, trying to keep our American story from being told but you can’t hide it under a bush,” she said. “And we will continue to share wherever and whenever we can. He does not understand how our story makes America look good as a country that makes mistakes but learns and grows.”

A webpage on the history of the Underground Railroad from which Tubman’s photo and her famous declaration that she “never lost a passenger” was removed has since been restored, the NPS told The Emancipator in a statement Tuesday morning.

“Changes to the Underground Railroad page on the National Park Service’s website were made without approval from NPS leadership nor Department leadership. The webpage was immediately restored to its original content,” the agency also said.

Since he took office, Trump has directed federal agencies to remove references and programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Last month he also issued an executive order for the removal of “improper ideology” and “divisive narratives” from the Smithsonian Institution, national parks, and other federal monuments.

When asked what she thought Tubman would advise to meet this moment, Wyatt said she would tell people to pray to God as she did. Tubman would also tell people to “take yourself out of the center” and consider how one’s actions affect others.

“She was always looking at people and paying attention, not always to their words, but to their actions, how they carried themselves,” Wyatt said. “That’s what she looked at. And then, she would lend her voice to any situation that helped to alleviate oppression of people.”

It is unclear when edits to the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad webpage were made, but the first known change removing Tubman appears to have occurred in mid-February during Black History Month, according to the internet archive Wayback Machine. Not only were Tubman’s photo and quote removed, but card images of enslaved people working in a field and reaching up for freedom were also removed.

Other changes to the page included the removal of the terms “fugitives” and “escapees,” according to additional snapshots on Wayback Machine. It also changed the narrative of the Underground Railroad and said it was “one of the most significant expressions of the American civil rights movement during its evolution over more than three centuries.”

“The Underground Railroad bridged the divides of race, religion, sectional differences, and nationality; spanned State lines and international borders; and joined the American ideals of liberty and freedom expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to the extraordinary actions of ordinary men and women working in common purpose to free a people,” the changed version of the webpage said.

Tubman, who was enslaved in Maryland and escaped to Pennsylvania, risked her life as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. She led more than 50 enslaved people to freedom. During the Civil War she became the first woman to lead a major military operation in the Combahee Ferry raid. More than 700 enslaved persons were rescued during that operation.

While it is unclear whether a member of Congress influenced the agency to restore portions of the page, lawmakers, including Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, criticized the removal.

“Trump is trying to rewrite the history of the Underground Railroad — even diminishing its conductor, MD’s own Harriet Tubman,” Van Hollen wrote on X. “The Underground Railroad is an important part of the American story. We cannot let him whitewash it as part of his larger effort to erase our history.”

There are also ongoing efforts to have Tubman placed on the $20 bill, including legislation that has stalled in Congress. A new bill introduced last month by New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, would replace former President Andrew Jackson with Tubman on the currency on a new design that is scheduled to be issued in 2030. Trump is a fan of Jackson, who enslaved Black people and implemented the racist removal of thousands of Indigenous people from their ancestral homes.

While she does not believe putting Tubman on the $20 bill will happen during the current administration, Wyatt said any future president should “put their money where their mouth is” and not delay the effort any longer.

“Put her on the money … a person who was enslaved, but yet fought for the Union, the good of the Union to keep the United States together and to continue to grow into being a great country,” she said, adding that Tubman pushed for the freedom of enslaved soldiers to also fight alongside White soldiers. “What else is that but inclusiveness? What else is that but equality? What else is that but representing democracy in its best form?”