Washington, D.C. — A new analysis from the Center for American Progress shows how the Trump administration is attempting to rewrite American history by censoring the stories of marginalized groups in more than one-third of U.S. national parks.
The analysis examined the contents of an Interior Department database that was leaked to reporters earlier this year. It reveals the scope and scale of the Trump administration’s efforts to erase Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized histories—along with science-related content—from public lands nationwide.
“The nation’s 250th birthday is a rare opportunity to understand the full scope of who Americans have been, what they have built, and who has been left out of that story,” said Angelo Villagomez, senior fellow for conservation policy at CAP and co-author of the analysis. “But the Trump administration’s actions are part of a coordinated campaign to sanitize and suppress our nation’s history. An America confident in its future cannot afford to fear its past.”
The database has flagged exhibits from 171 national parks across 43 states, three territories, and Washington, D.C., for removal or revision in accordance with Executive Order 14253. Of those 171 parks, 152 include flags related to erasing and sanitizing history or censoring science.
The most targeted category in this database was Black history, which made up nearly half of the total number of parks flagged—82 out of 171.
Specifically, the database flags the following historical and science exhibits:
- 82 parks with Black history content.
- 74 parks with Indigenous history content.
- 55 parks with science content.
- 20 parks with women’s history content.
- 10 parks with labor content.
- 11 parks with immigrant history content.
- 3 parks with LGBTQ+ history content.
- 44 parks with content on other revisionist history.
- 36 parks flagged for reasons unknown or unrelated to history and science.
Read the column: “Censored: Erasing 250 Years of American History on Public Lands” by Angelo Villagomez, Mariam Rashid, and Kendra Hughes
For more information on this topic or to talk to an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].