Underground Railroad Museum Sues Trump Admin, Says Federal Grant Was Axed Due To Race

The lawsuit claims that the Trump administration targeted Black historical centers in anti-DEI policy.

One of New York’s Underground Railroad museums, the Underground Railroad Education Center, has sued the Trump administration over a federal grant it says was axed because of race.

The educational center, located in Albany, filed the lawsuit on March 20 with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, hoping to overturn the grant’s repeal. The complaint alleges that Trump’s anti-DEI push led to the dissolution of the grant supporting its operations. The National Endowment for the Humanities bestowed the $250,000 allotment before its sudden cancellation last year.

In the filing obtained by NBC News, the Underground Railroad Education Center claims the grant’s axing violated the First and Fifth Amendments. Specifically, the museum asserts that the cancellation stems from racial discrimination tied to DEI concerns.

This anti-DEI policy began with Trump’s executive order in January 2025, which virtually eliminated all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across federal agencies. The new policy left many departments and programs wiped out, including grants that support various establishments nationwide.

However, the museum’s legal team argues that the Trump administration has “no legitimate basis” to scrap the grant. Instead, attorney Nina Loewenstein believes that anything “associated with the Black race” faced federal cuts impacting their longevity. The policy eliminated 1,400 grants by that April for their “conflict with” the executive order.

“Numerous statements of the current Executive Branch leadership reflect overt and coded racism supporting white supremacy and denigrating Black history in America,” the lawsuit said.

The museum is a nonprofit dedicated to the history and legacy of the Underground Railroad, particularly in the New York region. The initial home of the abolitionists Stephen and Harriet Myers, the building reopened in 2004 by co-founders Paul and Mary Liz Stewart. Its continued mission seeks to educate those in the Albany area about the home’s role in this sector of Black American history.

The grant helped the UREC sustain its communal activities and educational programming, as its facilities also housed relics and other artifacts from the period of enslavement. Now, with the grants removed, the museum’s $12 million construction for the neighboring center has stalled.

However, the UREC is not the only Black historical building to face funding setbacks in Trump’s second term. From local centers to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, many storied institutions have had to navigate the recall of exhibits and artifacts that do not align with the President’s anti-DEI directive.

The filing even asserted how the administration and its executive order “systematically targeted grantees and programs that sought to increase the public’s understanding of Black history and cultures.” However, the UREC hopes to succeed in appealing the grant’s cancellation, potentially setting a precedent for other historical institutions to reclaim lost funding.