When vacationers see a statue of Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a Nineteenth-century explorer, at a Grand Teton National Park customer middle this spring, a marker beneath it that was once there’ll now be lacking.
It had requested guests: “How do we acknowledge the good and bad of a figure?” stating that Doane’s expedition led to the designation of the primary national park – but in addition that he helped lead a bloodbath of at least 173 members of the Piegan Blackfeet – an act he bragged about all through his life.
Its elimination was cited in a lawsuit in opposition to the Department of the Interior, which manages the nation’s national parks, as one in every of many modifications wrought by President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order directing the company to “take action” in opposition to public content material that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
The Trump administration argues the order ensures that American history is portrayed in a optimistic gentle. But critics say it is erasing components of the nation’s previous.
“We are killing them all over again,” mentioned Tom Rodgers, a member of the Blackfeet Nation who is recognized as One Who Rides His Horse East, referring to victims of the bloodbath, which he known as one of many “most despicable historical experiences” for Native Americans.
“I think we’re at a point in our country where people think that if you tell half the truth, you’ve told all the truth, and that in itself, is a lie,” he mentioned. “It’s Orwellian.”
As the nation heads into peak vacationer season, proof of the administration’s unprecedented cultural overhaul might be on show at national parks across the nation. The elimination of the phrases at Grand Teton is one in every of at least 45 modifications that had been carried out below the chief order, in response to Save Our Signs, an advocacy group that tracks modifications to National Park Service shows.
For instance, in California’s Muir Woods National Monument, indicators on the contributions of Native Americans and ladies have been eliminated, together with a observe informing guests that John Muir as soon as referred to indigenous individuals utilizing racist language in his diaries and ignored “the genocide they survived.”
“This contributes to an idea that indigenous people don’t belong in parks,” the signal as soon as mentioned.
The administration has additionally taken purpose at warnings about local weather change, an element that impacts monuments positioned in pure landscapes.
At South Carolina’s Fort Sumter National Monument, an indication that included particulars on the looming impacts of local weather change, together with info on how “rising seas could inundate most of the fort’s walls and flood the historic parade ground” has been eliminated in its entirety.
The Interior Department informed NCS that at Fort Sumter, it “acted to replace materials that were not grounded in real science with information that is accurate, evidence-based, and aligned with how the world actually works.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, a show on George Mason, a founding father, has eliminated references to him “paradoxically” proudly owning slaves regardless of being a champion of “individual rights.”
The removals come as America enters a second replete with alternative to mirror upon its history, with celebrations to commemorate its 250th birthday all through this 12 months.
The Trump administration’s efforts have drawn backlash from some lawmakers and advocacy teams, together with the February lawsuit from a coalition of conservationists and advocates citing the Doane and different signal removals. It accused the administration of “mounting a sustained campaign to erase history and undermine science.” The case in Massachusetts is nonetheless pending.
The Interior Department informed NCS: “This effort is not about removing history. It is about ensuring taxpayer-funded displays present history in a balanced, factual and appropriate manner that reflects America’s full story, including its extraordinary achievements and its challenges.”
Experts and native park leaders had been consulted “as appropriate” for elimination choices, it mentioned, and argued that the directive “strengthens public trust and helps visitors better understand the complexity of America’s story.”
Following Trump’s government order, the Interior Department ordered a review of content material such as displays, movies, pamphlets and indicators at national parks.
The division additionally directed NPS to encourage national park guests to submit feedback on indicators, together with whether or not they discover any “negative” messaging about “either past or living Americans.”
If an merchandise was deemed to be “inconsistent” with Trump’s government order, it might be eliminated or changed.
According to an inside NPS database seen by NCS, tons of of shows had been flagged for evaluate.
The array of content material flagged included a various set of things deemed as doubtlessly disparaging to Americans “past or living.”
Items marked for evaluate embody books on the market about slavery, shows in regards to the compelled internment of Japanese Americans throughout World War II, and a movie about Nineteenth century mill employees in Massachusetts.
While it doesn’t say which had been eliminated, it comprises notes that mirror how extensively division steerage was interpreted.
One flagged show recalled abolitionist Elijah Parish Lovejoy’s killing. “This document states a ‘mob murders’ an abolitionist. Does this denigrate the murderers?” the remark asks. It suggests rewording the inscription to “Abolitionist editor Elijah Lovejoy is murdered for his views.”
A panel at a National Park in St. Croix is flagged with a observe saying it “discusses the slave trade and its connection to the sugar industry which some may find disparaging or inappropriate.”
The signal beneath Doane’s statue was flagged with a remark noting that it was “temporary” and might be eliminated “as necessary.”
The Interior Department contended that the database was “edited before being inappropriately and illegally released to the media in ways that misrepresented the status of this effort,” however didn’t specify what was modified.
“Employees who altered internal records and leaked in an effort to hurt the Trump administration will be held accountable,” the company mentioned in a press release.
A supply conversant in the database confirmed the accuracy of its contents to NCS, and that the modifications had been solely in formatting.
Kym Hall, a former NPS regional director who retired in October 2024, informed NCS that she has heard from present company workers that they are burned out and demoralized after being required to hold out signal modifications and removals.
“That’s the recurring theme … ‘This isn’t what I signed up for because this isn’t who we are as an organization,’” Hall mentioned of her conversations with buddies and former colleagues.
Since the removals started final summer season, a number of national park advocates have been pushing again in opposition to the administration’s claims that it is restoring the reality.
“We do great damage to ourselves, our own souls when we seek to control a narrative that is not true,” Rodgers informed NCS.
Rodgers — who was a part of the hassle that renamed Mount Doane in Yellowstone National Park to First Peoples Mountain — accused the administration of trying to “spin” Doane’s legacy with the signal elimination at Grand Teton.
The administration is “erasing half of the narrative” Elizabeth Villano, a co-creator of the Muir Woods signal, wrote in a LinkedIn post in response to the signal modifications there.
Pushback has introduced blended success.
Last month, a federal court docket blocked the NPS from going ahead with plans to interchange slavery-related displays at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia. Critics mentioned that the brand new panels sanitized the exhibition, which was erected to acknowledge people enslaved by George Washington.
Democrats within the House and Senate have despatched letters to Interior Department management as not too long ago as April, asking for additional readability in regards to the company’s evaluate.
The Interior Department has not responded to letters from Democrats in Congress, in response to the workplaces of Sen. Martin Heinrich and Reps. Sharice Davids and Jared Huffman.
Huffman additionally expressed alarm at the cultural overhaul going down simply months forward of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. “Actual history is getting whitewashed and censored from national parks and museums,” Huffman mentioned at a February listening to, “We should honor the 250th anniversary of America by telling the truth.”
Alan Spears, a senior director at the National Parks Conservation Association, informed NCS: “This notion of needing to restore truth and sanity to American history is one of the largest red herrings in American history. It’s trying to resolve a problem that doesn’t really exist, that never really existed.”
The White House defended the removals. In a press release, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers informed NCS that Trump “is honoring our country’s extraordinary heritage and restoring a sense of national pride.”
“The President has put an end to the radical left’s divisive and inaccurate characterization of our nation’s history, which infiltrated our national parks and museums, and is restoring truth and sanity,” she mentioned.
But the course of history modifications, Rodgers, the Blackfeet Nation member, famous: Those in cost now received’t be in energy without end, “and there will be a time and a place of our choosing to rectify this,” he mentioned.