Underground Railroad Museum Sues Trump Admin For Axed Grant

[ad_1] by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman March 23, 2026

The lawsuit claims that the Trump administration focused Black historic facilities in anti-DEI coverage.

One in every of New York’s Underground Railroad museums, the Underground Railroad Schooling Middle, has sued the Trump administration over a federal grant it says was axed due to race.

The academic middle, situated in Albany, filed the lawsuit on March 20 with the U.S. District Court docket for the Northern District of New York, hoping to overturn the grant’s repeal. The criticism alleges that Trump’s anti-DEI push led to the dissolution of the grant supporting its operations. The Nationwide Endowment for the Humanities bestowed the $250,000 allotment earlier than its sudden cancellation final yr.

Within the submitting obtained by NBC Information, the Underground Railroad Schooling Middle claims the grant’s axing violated the First and Fifth Amendments. Particularly, the museum asserts that the cancellation stems from racial discrimination tied to DEI considerations.

This anti-DEI coverage started with Trump’s govt order in January 2025, which just about eradicated all range, fairness, and inclusion initiatives throughout federal companies. The brand new coverage left many departments and applications worn out, together with grants that help varied institutions nationwide.

Nonetheless, the museum’s authorized staff argues that the Trump administration has “no respectable foundation” to scrap the grant. As a substitute, legal professional Nina Loewenstein believes that something “related to the Black race” confronted federal cuts impacting their longevity. The coverage eradicated 1,400 grants by that April for his or her “battle with” the manager order.

“Quite a few statements of the present Govt Department management replicate overt and coded racism supporting white supremacy and denigrating Black historical past in America,” the lawsuit stated.

The museum is a nonprofit devoted to the historical past and legacy of the Underground Railroad, significantly within the New York area. The preliminary residence of the abolitionists Stephen and Harriet Myers, the constructing reopened in 2004 by co-founders Paul and Mary Liz Stewart. Its continued mission seeks to coach these within the Albany space concerning the residence’s position on this sector of Black American historical past.

The grant helped the UREC maintain its communal actions and academic programming, as its amenities additionally housed relics and different artifacts from the interval of enslavement. Now, with the grants eliminated, the museum’s $12 million building for the neighboring middle has stalled.

Nonetheless, the UREC is just not the one Black historic constructing to face funding setbacks in Trump’s second time period. From native facilities to the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition, many storied establishments have needed to navigate the recall of reveals and artifacts that don't align with the President’s anti-DEI directive.

The submitting even asserted how the administration and its govt order “systematically focused grantees and applications that sought to extend the general public’s understanding of Black historical past and cultures.” Nonetheless, the UREC hopes to reach interesting the grant’s cancellation, doubtlessly setting a precedent for different historic establishments to reclaim misplaced funding.