Interior says it has not been asked to remove ‘Scourged Back’ photo

The Department of Interior told The Hill on Tuesday it did not direct the National Park Service (NPS) to remove a famed photo showing an enslaved man’s scars from exhibits.

“I can confirm that NPS sites were not asked to remove the photo. If any interpretive materials are found to have been removed or altered prematurely or in error, the Department will review the circumstances and take corrective action as appropriate,” Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace told The Hill. 

“Our goal is accuracy and balance, not removal for its own sake, and we are committed to making corrections if mistakes occur.”

Earlier in the day, The Washington Post reported that the piece widely referenced as “The Scourged Back” would no longer be available for viewing amid efforts to comply with the Trump administration’s March executive order outlawing exhibits that promote a “corrosive ideology.” The Washington Post report attributed it to four sources from the NPS.

The striking image of Peter Gordon, a formerly enslaved individual, have been on display at the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery of Art.

“Interpretive materials that disproportionately emphasize negative aspects of U.S. history or historical figures, without acknowledging broader context or national progress, can unintentionally distort understanding rather than enrich it,” Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz previously told the Post.

Harper’s Weekly originally published the photo on Independence Day in 1863, in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg. At the time, it chronicled Gordon’s escape from a Louisiana plantation before he took up arms for the Union during the Civil War, the Portrait Gallery website explains.

One journalist after seeing the image said, “This Card Photograph should be multiplied by 100,000 and scattered over the States. It tells the story in a way that even Mrs. [Harriet Beecher] Stowe cannot approach, because it tells the story to the eye,” according to the Smithsonian museum.

The institution used the image as an opportunity to inform students of the “compelling visual proof of slavery’s brutality” outlining corresponding activities for teachers to convey after showcasing the image. 

Trump’s March order said museums with reflections of slavery or other brutalities are “inherently harmful and oppressive.”

“Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,” the order states.

Peace said the Interior Department was implementing the president’s executive order.

“As the President has stated, federal historic sites and institutions should present history that is accurate, honest and reflective of shared national values,” she said in her statement. “Interpretive materials that focus solely on challenging aspects of U.S. history, without acknowledging broader context or national progress, may unintentionally provide an incomplete understanding rather than enrich it.”

Updated at 5:35 p.m. EDT