‘We are killing them all over again’: Critics say history is being erased as Trump reshapes narratives at national parks
By Kaanita Iyer, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Aleena Fayaz, CNN
(CNN) — When tourists see a statue of Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a 19th-century explorer, at a Grand Teton National Park visitor center this spring, a marker beneath it that used to be there will now be missing.
It had asked visitors: “How do we acknowledge the good and bad of a figure?” pointing out that Doane’s expedition led to the designation of the first national park – but also that he helped lead a massacre of at least 173 members of the Piegan Blackfeet – an act he bragged about throughout his life.
Its removal was cited in a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior, which manages the country’s national parks, as one of many changes wrought by President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order directing the agency to “take action” against public content that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
The Trump administration argues the order ensures that American history is portrayed in a positive light. But critics say it is erasing elements of the nation’s past.
“We are killing them all over again,” said Tom Rodgers, a member of the Blackfeet Nation who is known as One Who Rides His Horse East, referring to victims of the massacre, which he called one of the “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 said. “It’s Orwellian.”
As the country heads into peak tourist season, evidence of the administration’s unprecedented cultural overhaul will be on display at national parks around the country. The removal of the words at Grand Teton is one of at least 45 changes that were carried out under the executive order, according to Save Our Signs, an advocacy group that tracks changes to National Park Service displays.
For example, in California’s Muir Woods National Monument, signs on the contributions of Native Americans and women have been removed, including a note informing visitors that John Muir once referred to indigenous people using 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 sign once said.
The administration has also taken aim at warnings about climate change, a factor that impacts monuments placed in natural landscapes.
At South Carolina’s Fort Sumter National Monument, a sign that included details on the looming impacts of climate change, including information on how “rising seas could inundate most of the fort’s walls and flood the historic parade ground” has been removed in its entirety.
The Interior Department told CNN 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 display on George Mason, a founding father, has removed references to him “paradoxically” owning slaves despite being a champion of “individual rights.”
The removals come as America enters a moment replete with opportunity to reflect upon its history, with celebrations to commemorate its 250th birthday throughout this year.
The Trump administration’s efforts have drawn backlash from some lawmakers and advocacy groups, including the February lawsuit from a coalition of conservationists and advocates citing the Doane and other sign removals. It accused the administration of “mounting a sustained campaign to erase history and undermine science.” The case in Massachusetts is still pending.
The Interior Department told CNN: “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 local park leaders were consulted “as appropriate” for removal decisions, it said, and argued that the directive “strengthens public trust and helps visitors better understand the complexity of America’s story.”
Widespread removal
Following Trump’s executive order, the Interior Department ordered a review of content such as exhibits, films, pamphlets and signs at national parks.
The department also directed NPS to encourage national park visitors to submit comments on signs, including whether they notice any “negative” messaging about “either past or living Americans.”
If an item was deemed to be “inconsistent” with Trump’s executive order, it could be removed or replaced.
According to an internal NPS database seen by CNN, hundreds of displays were flagged for review.
The array of content flagged included a diverse set of items deemed as potentially disparaging to Americans “past or living.”
Items marked for review include books for sale about slavery, displays about the forced internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and a film about 19th century mill workers in Massachusetts.
While it does not say which were removed, it contains notes that reflect how widely department guidance was interpreted.
One flagged display recalled abolitionist Elijah Parish Lovejoy’s killing. “This document states a ‘mob murders’ an abolitionist. Does this denigrate the murderers?” the comment 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 note saying it “discusses the slave trade and its connection to the sugar industry which some may find disparaging or inappropriate.”
The sign below Doane’s statue was flagged with a comment noting that it was “temporary” and could be removed “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,” but did not specify what was changed.
“Employees who altered internal records and leaked in an effort to hurt the Trump administration will be held accountable,” the agency said in a statement.
A source familiar with the database confirmed the accuracy of its contents to CNN, and that the changes were only in formatting.
Kym Hall, a former NPS regional director who retired in October 2024, told CNN that she has heard from current agency staff that they are burned out and demoralized after being required to carry out sign changes 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 said of her conversations with friends and former colleagues.
Advocates push back
Since the removals began last summer, several national park advocates have been pushing back against the administration’s claims that it is restoring the truth.
“We do great damage to ourselves, our own souls when we seek to control a narrative that is not true,” Rodgers told CNN.
Rodgers — who was part of the effort that renamed Mount Doane in Yellowstone National Park to First Peoples Mountain — accused the administration of attempting to “spin” Doane’s legacy with the sign removal at Grand Teton.
The administration is “erasing half of the narrative” Elizabeth Villano, a co-creator of the Muir Woods sign, wrote in a LinkedIn post in response to the sign changes there.
Pushback has brought mixed success.
Last month, a federal court blocked the NPS from going forward with plans to replace slavery-related exhibits at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia. Critics said that the new panels sanitized the exhibition, which was erected to recognize individuals enslaved by George Washington.
Democrats in the House and Senate have sent letters to Interior Department leadership as recently as April, asking for further clarity about the agency’s review.
The Interior Department has not responded to letters from Democrats in Congress, according to the offices of Sen. Martin Heinrich and Reps. Sharice Davids and Jared Huffman.
The meaning of history
Huffman also expressed alarm at the cultural overhaul taking place just months ahead of the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding. “Actual history is getting whitewashed and censored from national parks and museums,” Huffman said at a February hearing, “We should honor the 250th anniversary of America by telling the truth.”
Alan Spears, a senior director at the National Parks Conservation Association, told CNN: “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 statement, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told CNN 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 said.
But the course of history changes, Rodgers, the Blackfeet Nation member, noted: Those in charge now won’t be in power forever, “and there will be a time and a place of our choosing to rectify this,” he said.
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