Trump Rewrites America’s Story in the Parks: MLK Day and Juneteenth Removed From Free-Entry Holidays
By Brian Allen
The Trump administration has quietly executed one of the most racially loaded policy changes of its second term. This time, the battlefield isn’t policing, voting rights, or federal contracting.
It’s the national parks.
According to internal reporting from SFGATE, the administration has removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the list of federal free-entry days at U.S. national parks and added Donald Trump’s own birthday in their place .
Let’s be clear about what this means.
Two holidays that honor Black liberation, Black history, and America’s unfinished work of racial equality were eliminated as official free-access days. And they were replaced with a celebration of Trump himself.
This is not normal policy adjustment. This is historical vandalism dressed up as administrative housekeeping.
What Exactly Changed
For decades, MLK Day has been the first free-entry day of the year for national parks. It has also been recognized as a federal Day of Service, when the Park Service organizes volunteer projects nationwide.
But according to SFGATE:
“Visitors to the 116 parks that charge entrance fees will no longer get in for free on MLK Day or on Juneteenth… They will, however, on Trump’s June 14 birthday.”
(SFGATE, 2025)
In other words:
Honoring the civil rights movement is out. Honoring Trump is in.
The Park Service also removed:
National Public Lands Day
The Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
This is part of a wider purge of what the administration calls “negative history.”
Why This Matters
This is not a symbolic gesture. Entrance fees run between $3 and $30, and for many low-income families, especially families of color, free-entry days are the only opportunity to experience national parks.
The communities most impacted by the removal of MLK Day and Juneteenth are the same communities long excluded from outdoor recreation due to structural inequities.
Tyrhee Moore, Executive Director of Soul Trak Outdoors, explains the real-world consequences:
“Removing free-entry days on MLK Day and Juneteenth sends a troubling message about who our national parks are for… Policies like this reinforce inequalities… and show how systems create obstacles that keep communities of color from feeling welcomed in public spaces.”
(Moore, as quoted in SFGATE, 2025)
This isn’t accidental exclusion. It’s exclusion by design.
The Administration’s Long War on “Negative History”
This decision doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
In May, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered parks to encourage visitors to report any signage or exhibits that portrayed “negative” aspects of American history. According to SFGATE:
“In June, such signs went up at Manzanar… An exhibit… about colonial violence was removed from Muir Woods.”
(SFGATE, 2025)
Manzanar commemorates the imprisonment of Japanese Americans.
Muir Woods acknowledged the brutal displacement of Indigenous people.
Those stories were labeled too “negative.”
Trump’s birthday, meanwhile, is labeled worthy of celebration.
The message is unmistakable:
Sanitize the past. Celebrate the president. Strip out the history that challenges power.
The Park Service’s Own Staff Is Sounding the Alarm
The National Parks Conservation Association called out the obviously targeted nature of these removals.
Kati Schmidt, NPCA communications director, wrote:
“Why is MLK Day not worthy of a fee free day anymore?… That has become a day of service throughout the country and celebrates an American hero.”
(Schmidt, as quoted in SFGATE, 2025)
The Interior Department refused to comment when asked.
Silence can be clarifying.
A Pattern of Retaliation Against Racial History
Since returning to office, Trump has:
Forced removal of exhibits about racial violence
Attempted to criminalize “negative” narratives about the U.S.
Replaced educational programming with nationalist messaging
Pressured parks to display new “patriotic” signage
Added his own face to national park passes
And now, the parks have been ordered to stop honoring MLK and Juneteenth, two holidays that explicitly acknowledge racial injustice.
A democracy erodes slowly, then suddenly.
This is one of those “suddenly” moments.
Why MLK Day and Juneteenth Hit a Nerve
MLK Day isn’t just a holiday. It is a federal commitment to ongoing civil rights work.
Juneteenth is not just a commemoration. It is the recognition of emancipation itself.
Removing these holidays from free-entry access is a symbolic declaration that Black history is optional, and Trumpist nationalism is mandatory.
Public land experts warn that this is part of a broader ideological takeover. GreenLatinos policy director Olivia Juarez said:
“These observances are patriotic days that celebrate freedom… Removing them creates obstacles that keep communities of color from feeling welcomed.”
(Juarez, as quoted in SFGATE, 2025)
Trump’s birthday, in contrast, has zero national significance—other than to the man in power.
The Public Is Fighting Back
Park visitors have begun resisting. Hundreds have used the administration’s new QR-code surveillance system to submit supportive comments defending accurate historical interpretation—the opposite of what the administration intended.
An underground network of historians has begun covertly archiving signs and exhibits the administration is trying to erase.
There is a cultural war unfolding inside America’s parks.
And those parks are becoming one of the clearest mirrors of Trump’s governing philosophy.
Final Word
National parks are not just forests and mountains. They are repositories of national memory.
When a president removes MLK Day and Juneteenth as days of free access, and replaces them with his own birthday, he is not just rearranging a calendar.
He is rewriting who belongs in America’s public spaces.
He is rewriting which histories are worthy of being honored.
He is rewriting the story of the country itself.
The question now is whether the public will notice the rewrite happening in real time.
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References
Mohr, K. (2025). Free entrance days at national parks no longer include MLK Day and Juneteenth: National parks change prioritizes Trump birthday over days honoring Black people. SFGATE.
National Park Service. (2025). Entrance fee policies and annual free days. U.S. Department of the Interior.
Juarez, O. (2025). Statement to SFGATE on national park access and equity.
Moore, T. (2025). Interview with SFGATE on structural exclusion in outdoor access.
Schmidt, K. (2025). Email to SFGATE regarding MLK Day removal.
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