America’s National Parks are classrooms without walls. Millions of families rely on them to tell the truth about who we are as a country, including the history of slavery, racial violence, and Black resistance. When this history is altered or removed, the public loses access to truth, and Black communities lose cultural grounding and protection against historical revisionism.

Since Donald Trump returned to office, his administration has repeatedly targeted cultural institutions in an effort to sanitize America’s past. In March, the President issued an executive order attempting to force the Smithsonian to present a more “celebratory” version of U.S. history. After public backlash, legal pressure, and organizing stopped that effort, the administration shifted tactics.

Now, instead of attacking one institution, federal agencies are quietly stripping historical truth from National Parks nationwide.

Add your name to demand that the National Park Service protect the truth and defend Black history.

Here is the Petition:

We, the undersigned, demand that the National Park Service immediately halt the censorship and erasure of Black history across National Parks, monuments, and historic sites.

America’s National Parks are classrooms without walls. Millions of families rely on them to tell the truth about who we are as a country, including the history of slavery, racial violence, and Black resistance. When this history is altered or removed, the public loses access to truth, and Black communities lose cultural grounding and protection against historical revisionism.

In just one year, multiple historic landmarks have already been altered to remove references to slavery, racial terror, and Black resistance. These changes are not accidental. They are strategic retaliation meant to normalize the lie that America’s violence against Black people is marginal and unimportant.

By directing agencies to “scrub” so-called “negative history,” this administration is censoring public memory, silencing historians, and overriding the professional expertise of park staff. This is not preservation. It is political control carried out with public funds.

We demand that the National Park Service:

1. Immediately halt all censorship or alteration of historical interpretation related to slavery, racial violence, and Black resistance.
   
   
2. Publicly disclose who ordered these changes, when they were made, and under what authority.
   
   
3. Protect historians, park staff, and educators from political pressure or retaliation for telling the truth.
   
   
4. Cooperate fully with congressional oversight into federal interference with historical interpretation.
   
   

Any administration that attempts to erase Black history must be held publicly accountable. Our public lands must remain places of truth, not tools of propaganda.