LOS ANGELES, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Staff at a Grand Canyon National Park visitor center in Arizona have removed portions of a historical exhibit that described how U.S. government officials "pushed tribes off their land" to create the park, after warning National Park Service leadership in Washington the language could be deemed problematic, according to government documents obtained by The Washington Post.
The removal is part of a broader campaign affecting at least 18 national parks across the western United States, including sites in Montana, Texas, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. National parks are protected public lands that preserve natural landscapes and historic sites and are managed by the federal government.
The documents showed park staff also deleted references to settlers who "exploited land for mining and grazing" and proposed removing mentions of Native American ancestors' "misery, suffering and loss," the Post's report on Tuesday said, noting it is a part of efforts from the Trump administration designed to move "partisan ideology" from federal sites.
U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March 2025, directing agencies to eliminate content that "inappropriately disparages Americans" and instead to focus on "the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people."
However, historians say the administration is actually accomplishing something very different.
The American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians, the two major professional organizations for historians in the United States, issued a joint statement upon the signing of the executive order, calling the administration's policies "a systemic campaign to distort, manipulate, and erase significant parts of the historical record."
"Recent directives insidiously prioritize narrow ideology over historical research, historical accuracy, and the actual experiences of Americans," the joint statement said.
Native American communities have been particularly affected. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit advocacy group, funding cuts have severely undermined the work of more than 200 Tribal Historic Preservation Officers nationwide. These positions help tribes protect their heritage sites and ensure accurate representation of their history.
At the same time, after a wave of staffing cuts, only 26 positions with liaison duties were left to consult with 574 federally recognized tribes.
The removals extend beyond western parks. In September 2025, officials removed a famous 1863 photograph from a park in Georgia. The image showed an enslaved man with severe whipping scars. When first published during the American Civil War, the photograph shocked the nation by documenting slavery's brutality.
Last week, the National Park Service dismantled a memorial in Philadelphia that honored nine people enslaved by George Washington, the first U.S. president. The exhibit had stood since 2010.
Michael Coard, a Black activist and an attorney in Philadelphia who leads a coalition that fought for years to create the slavery memorial, criticized its removal. "George Washington has more monuments and memorials in America than any other American," Coard told NPR last September. "So if George Washington got all that attention, we need to get some attention now."
Alan Spears, senior director of cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, said the removals represent "a dangerously misguided attempt to sanitize America's racial wounds."
Park employees report feeling pressured to comply with the removal orders despite personal objections. According to the NPR report based on leaked internal documents, staff are flagging historical signs "to avoid getting into trouble."
Furthermore, the administration flagged one brochure for removal or revision in Glacier National Park that shows images of retreating glaciers and states that human-caused climate change is a factor in their likely future disappearance, according to the report on Tuesday.
A video referencing the disappearance of glaciers was also ordered removed or altered, as was a sign at the park's gift shop reading "Climate Change Affects National Parks and the Treasures They Protect."
"We're whitewashing," Jeff Mow, who retired as superintendent of Glacier National Park in 2022, told the Post, "or we're taking out all those sort of not-so-nice stories that have occurred in our nation's history." ■
