CORE Condemns Removal of Historical Interpretation at National Parks
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2025
The Coalition for Outdoor Renaming and Education (CORE) condemns the removal of interpretive signage and content at Independence National Historical Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Big Bend National Park, Zion National Park, and other Department of Interior sites around the country. These actions involve the removal or alteration of exhibits that documented slavery, dispossession, and other central chapters of U.S. history and mark a shift away from long-standing interpretive practice on public lands.
“These removals are a deliberate choice and part of a broader push to narrow the public’s understanding of our shared history by sidelining uncomfortable narratives and the unfinished work of democracy, carried out under the guise of ‘restoring truth and sanity to American history,’” said Gerry Seavo James, CORE Steering Committee Member and Sierra Club’s Deputy Director for the Outdoors for All Campaign. “They undermine the National Park Service’s responsibility to present history honestly. Public lands are not places for selective memory. They are places for truth.”
At Independence, the National Park Service removed the Freedom and Slavery in the Making of the Nation exhibit at the President’s House site, dismantling interpretive panels that documented George Washington’s enslavement of people in Philadelphia, the operation of slavery in the nation’s early capital, and the fundamental contradictions between the nation’s founding ideals and the lived reality of enslavement. This represents a clear departure from long-standing interpretive commitments and professional historical standards.
This exhibit did not emerge by chance. It exists because of decades of advocacy by Black Philadelphians and community leaders, led in large part by the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, which organized and pushed the National Park Service to publicly acknowledge the history of slavery at the President’s House. Their work helped shape the exhibit that was removed and ensured that the lives of the enslaved people held there were finally recognized in a space long defined by selective memory.
This action also follows warnings CORE has already placed on the public record. In December 2025, CORE submitted formal testimony to Congress opposing efforts to codify Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” and warning that political interference in historical interpretation would erode professional standards and public trust across national parks and historic sites. Earlier, in August, CORE released a national sign-on letter, supported by more than 100 organizations, calling for the rescission of Secretarial Order 3431, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which implements Executive Order 14253. Additionally, records obtained through public records request by CORE Steering Committee member, Sierra Club show that the vast majority of public comments submitted by visitors to Interior sites opposed the removal or alteration of interpretive content and expressed strong support for honest, complete, and inclusive history.
Public lands are public classrooms. These shared landscapes and sites must reflect the full and complex history of this country. CORE calls on the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service to immediately restore the removed exhibit and reaffirm adherence to professional interpretive standards. CORE further calls on Congress to exercise oversight to ensure that interpretation on public lands remain transparent and evidence-based.
About CORE
The Coalition for Outdoor Renaming and Education (CORE) is a national alliance of advocates, educators, descendants, and stewards working to ensure that public memory reflects justice, truth, and belonging. We defend inclusive interpretation and work to protect spaces where all stories can be told with dignity and honesty.
Media Contact
renamingcoalition@gmail.com | www.outdoorrenaming.org
