How the Trump Administration Made George Washington an Abolitionist. In Philadelphia, the Park Service now downplays the importance of slavery to understanding the first president.

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/07/washington-slavery-philadelphia/688070/

72 points · 2 comments · view on lemmy.world

2 Comments

tmyakal@infosec.pub · 8 pts · 21d

For anyone who doesn't know: Ona Judge's story is absolutely wild and shows how morally bankrupt and petty Washington was.

Very short version: Pennsylvania was one of the first abolitionist states in the nation. When Washington exploited a loophole to keep Ona from gaining her freedom in the state, she escaped and fled to Maine before the Underground Railroad had even become a thing yet. Then Washington spent his entire life trying to get her back.

dltk@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 21d

Trump whitewashed the President's House site so thoroughly that he had to slap forced-labor tariffs on Switzerland just to balance the books. Looks like Barron's lanky ass is spending his summer in Geneva, doing 14-hour shifts in the Swiss chocolate mines.