WASHINGTON — The National Parks Service has edited its “Underground Railroad” webpage, noticeably removing an image and quote of Harriet Tubman. 

The agency’s “What is the Underground Railroad” webpage used to appear with a picture and quote from Tubman, the formerly enslaved woman who led dozens of enslaved people to freedom in the North. It’s the latest government site to see changes amid the Trump administration’s effort to purge content promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, commonly referred to as DEI.

A comparison on internet archive Wayback Machine from January 8, 2025 and March 19 show Tubman’s portrait and quote were removed and replaced with a collage of stamps with civil rights leaders, including Tubman, with the phrase “Black/White Cooperation.” Additionally, a reference to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 has also been removed and the original introductory paragraph has been edited down. 

Tubman’s now-missing quote read: “I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say — I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”

The Washington Post first reported on the website changes. 

The original introduction read as follows: 

“The Underground Railroad—the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War—refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage. Wherever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape. At first to maroon communities in remote or rugged terrain on the edge of settled areas and eventually across state and international borders. These acts of self-emancipation labeled slaves as “fugitives,” “escapees,” or “runaways,” but in retrospect “freedom seeker ” is a more accurate description. Many freedom seekers began their journey unaided and many completed their self-emancipation without assistance, but each subsequent decade in which slavery was legal in the United States, there was an increase in active efforts to assist escape.”

The new introduction displayed is much shorter and excludes a mention of slavery. 

“The Underground Railroad—flourished from the end of the 18th century to the end of the Civil War, 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.”

A separate NPS webpage dedicated to Harriet Tubman appears unchanged, according to a comparison on Wayback Machine. 

The National Parks Services is the latest federal agency to erase or edit content on government websites amid the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion.

Earlier in March, the Pentagon briefly removed a page dedicated to baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson’s military service. While it was down, the page showed a message saying it “might have been moved, renamed, or may be temporarily unavailable.” The letters “dei” were also automatically added to the URL.

A webpage honoring Black Medal of Honor recipient Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers was also briefly taken down but restored after a few days.