Sample path: Federal lands, truth, and community response
United States · 2025–2026 · Policy & memory
This is a sample learning path for high school or introductory college classes. Walk through four entries in order; use each instructor note as a warm-up or exit ticket. Swap events in admin to match your syllabus.
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Opening frame: What does “restoring” history mean when the state rewrites public land interpretation?
2025 Executive Order 14253: 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History' President Trump signed Executive Order 14253 directing the Department of the Interior and National Park Service to remove exhibits about slavery, Indigenous genocide, civil rights, and climate science from national parks and federal lands. -
Compare conservation narratives with Indigenous history. Who is centered in each version?
2025 Muir Woods 'History Under Construction' Exhibit Removal Trump administration removed 'History Under Construction' exhibit acknowledging Coast Miwok Indigenous history and the racist roots of conservation movements at Muir Woods National Monument. -
Map check: find Grand Canyon on the archive map. What is lost when displacement is erased from signage?
2025 Grand Canyon Indigenous Displacement References Removed National Park Service removed signs and exhibits referencing the forced displacement of Native Americans from Grand Canyon region when the National Park was created. -
Closing: connect erasure at Stonewall to patterns you saw in earlier steps.
2025 Stonewall National Monument LGBTQ+ History Altered Trump administration removed and altered references to transgender and queer people at Stonewall National Monument — the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.