Washington, D.C. — A new analysis from the Center for American Progress shows how the Trump administration is intentionally censoring and rewriting historical exhibits across the country to erase the contributions of Black Americans who helped shape the country’s public lands and waters.
Through executive orders and other actions, the administration is directing federal agencies to remove references to slavery, racial discrimination, and systemic injustice from National Park Service sites. These collective actions diminish Black Americans’ roles in building and reshaping the nation through intentional whitewashing.
These egregious acts include ordering the removal of slavery-related interpretive panels near Independence Hall in Philadelphia, censoring information about abolitionist John Brown’s raid in Harpers Ferry, in West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland, and banning a booklet about slavery from being distributed at the former home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Instead of celebrating the real history of America during the nation’s 250th anniversary, the Trump administration is degrading these historical exhibits and diminishing the national heritage that all Americans are meant to share.
Read the analysis: “The Trump Administration Is Intentionally Erasing the Black History Told by Public Lands and Waters” by Angelo Villagomez, Mariam Rashid, and Kendra Hughes
For more information, or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].