The One-Sentence Version
The Trump administration has physically removed slavery exhibits from national parks, rewritten January 6 as a “peaceful protest” on the official White House website, restored Confederate names to military bases, fired the Librarian of Congress and the Archivist of the United States, and altered or removed over 8,000 federal web pages containing historical, scientific, and civil rights content.
By the Numbers
| What | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Federal web pages removed or altered | 8,000+ | [22] |
| CDC pages alone altered or removed | 3,000+ | [22] |
| Federal data collections with LGBTQ measures removed | ~360 | [26] |
| Executive orders directing historical content changes | 5 | [1][16] |
| Military bases having Confederate-linked names restored | 7 | [13] |
| National parks with exhibits flagged or removed | 9+ | [3][4] |
| Enslaved people’s stories removed from Philadelphia memorial | 9 | [1] |
| Years the Philadelphia slavery exhibits had been in place | 16 | [1] |
| Years Denali held its Alaska Native name before renaming | 10 | [9] |
| Years since a president’s face appeared on U.S. currency (broken) | 100+ | [29] |
| Years since a sitting president’s signature appeared on currency (broken) | 165 | [29] |
| States where Confederate monuments are being restored on federal land | 2 (DC, Virginia) | [15] |
| Library of Congress subject headings changed with less than 24 hours for public comment | 45 | [9] |
Why Does This Matter?
The federal government is the largest custodian of American history. It maintains the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian museums, 400+ national parks and monuments, Arlington National Cemetery, and thousands of federal websites containing historical records, data, and educational materials.
When a private citizen disputes history, it’s an opinion. When the government removes slavery exhibits from a national memorial, rewrites the description of an attack on the Capitol, or fires the national archivist, it’s something different. It’s the institution responsible for preserving the historical record changing the historical record.
What Was Physically Removed
Slavery exhibits at the President’s House, Philadelphia
On January 22, 2026, National Park Service crews dismantled exhibits about slavery at the President’s House in Philadelphia, the site where George Washington lived during his presidency.[1] The exhibits told the stories of nine enslaved people Washington brought to the capital, including Oney Judge, who escaped to freedom in 1796, and Hercules, the household chef.[1]
The removed displays included “Life Under Slavery,” “The Dirty Business of Slavery,” and “History Lost & Found.” Thirteen items across six exhibits were flagged for review. All were removed.[1] The exhibits had been in place since 2010 after years of community advocacy.[1]
The removal was ordered under Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”[1]
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker filed a lawsuit arguing the administration “acted without statutory authority” and “provided no explanation at all.”[2] A federal judge ruled the removal likely violated the law and ordered NPS to restore signage.[5] Signs were restored on February 19, 2026, though an appeals court later ruled NPS does not have to restore the exhibit to its exact original state.[5]
National park displays across the country
A January 2026 directive ordered the National Park Service to remove dozens of signs, exhibits, and displays from parks nationwide.[3][4] Documented removals and flaggings:
| Park | What was removed or flagged |
|---|---|
| Grand Canyon | Signs about settlers exploiting land and pushing Native Americans off their land |
| Glacier | Brochures showing glaciers retreating due to climate change; podcast content about environmental science |
| Little Bighorn | Text about the U.S. being “hungry for gold and land” |
| Little Bighorn | Text about the U.S. breaking promises to Native Americans |
| Little Bighorn | Text about boarding schools that “violently erased cultural identities and language” |
| Yellowstone | Interpretive panels about climate impacts |
| Fort Sumter | Climate change displays removed; wall of slavery quotes flagged |
| Zion, Big Bend, Grand Teton | Various environmental and historical displays flagged |
| Bent’s Old Fort, Hubbell Trading Post | Indigenous history displays flagged |
At Little Bighorn, the administration ordered the removal of text describing boarding schools that “violently erased cultural identities and language.” The text being removed was itself about the government erasing Indigenous culture.[4]
Native American displacement is documented historical fact acknowledged by the U.S. government itself, including through formal Congressional apologies. Glacier retreat is observable, measurable, and confirmed by peer-reviewed science.
Books flagged in national park gift shops
In July 2025, NPS staff flagged books about slavery for potential removal from gift shops at Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, and Charles Pinckney National Historic Site in South Carolina.[3] Flagged titles included “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” and “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet A. Jacobs.[3] As of late September 2025, the books remained on shelves.[3]
Stonewall National Monument
On February 10, 2026, the NPS ordered removal of the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, the nation’s first monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights.[25] The flag had been permanently installed in 2021. It was removed under an NPS memo prohibiting “non-agency flags.”[25]
In February 2025, the NPS had already deleted all references to transgender people from the Stonewall Monument’s web page.[25] The Stonewall Inn was the site of the 1969 uprising that catalyzed the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
Two days after the flag’s removal, hundreds rallied and restored it. Rep. Jerry Nadler and New York City officials participated.[25]
What Was Rewritten
January 6 on the White House website
The White House created an official page at whitehouse.gov/j6 titled “January 6: A Date Which Will Live in Infamy” (echoing the language used to describe the attack on Pearl Harbor).[6] The page describes the Capitol attack as a “peaceful protest turned tragedy,” blames “Deep State entrapment” and “media deception,” and calls the participants “patriotic Americans.”[6]
The documented record of January 6: 5 people died, over 140 police officers were injured (including traumatic brain injuries), more than 1,500 people were charged with federal crimes, and leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were convicted of seditious conspiracy by unanimous juries.[7][8]
In October 2025, two DOJ prosecutors were placed on administrative leave after using the phrase “thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters” in a sentencing memo.[7] The memo was pulled from the docket and replaced with a version that removed the description of January 6 and the prosecutors’ names.[7]
On April 14-15, 2026, the DOJ filed motions to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions of 12 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members with prejudice, meaning the convictions would be erased from the legal record entirely and the defendants could never be re-prosecuted.[8] Rep. Jamie Raskin said the motions “constitute an attempt to vaporize the verdicts rendered unanimously by American jurors.”[8]
At the National Portrait Gallery, when Trump’s official portrait was updated in January 2026, the museum removed the text: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”[7]
The EPA rewrote its climate page
In December 2025, the EPA rewrote its “Causes of Climate Change” webpage.[23] Human activities, including burning oil, gas, and coal, were removed as causes. The page now discusses only natural processes: Earth’s orbit, solar activity, and volcanic eruptions.[23] An EPA spokesperson called the edits routine, stating the agency “no longer takes marching orders from the climate cult.”[23]
The National Climate Assessments were removed from federal websites on June 30, 2025.[22] The federal climate research website globalchange.gov was shut down.[22]
The Iran war, in real time
Within six weeks of launching military operations against Iran in early 2026, the administration offered five different justifications for the war.[28] Defense Secretary Hegseth, Secretary of State Rubio, and Trump each gave different and contradictory reasons: Iran’s nuclear program, retaliation for attacks on U.S. troops, a response to October 7 (Iran was not directly responsible), regime change for human rights, and preventing an Iranian regional hegemony.[28] The justifications shifted as each one was challenged. The pattern echoed the shifting rationale for the 2003 Iraq War.[28]
What Was Renamed
Denali became Mount McKinley again
On Inauguration Day, Executive Order 14172 directed the Interior Department to rename North America’s tallest peak from Denali back to Mount McKinley.[9] The mountain had been called Denali, meaning “the high one” in Koyukon Athabaskan, by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Obama had restored the Alaska Native name in 2015 after decades of effort by Alaska’s congressional delegation.[9]
The entire Alaska delegation, including both Republican senators, opposed the change:[10]
- Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): “Our nation’s tallest mountain, which has been called Denali for thousands of years, must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans.”[10]
- The Alaska State Legislature passed a bipartisan resolution (28-10) urging Trump to reverse the decision.[10]
- Alaskans opposed the change by a two-to-one margin in polling.[10]
Sonia Shaginoff-Stuart (Ahtna Dene and Pyramid Lake Paiute) said: “The name is a statement of recognition of Native people in their native language. Taking that away is yet another way to not recognize those people.”[11]
The Library of Congress changed its subject heading from “Denali, Mount (Alaska)” to “McKinley, Mount (Alaska)” with less than 24 hours for public comment, bypassing the normal three-week period.[9]
Gulf of Mexico became Gulf of America
The same executive order directed the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.[12] The Interior Department updated federal databases retroactive to January 20, 2025.[12] NOAA, USGS, Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Bing Maps all changed to “Gulf of America” for U.S. users.[12] Mexico rejected the change. The House passed legislation codifying the new name into law.[12]
Confederate base names restored
On June 10, 2025, Trump announced that seven military bases renamed in 2023 under a bipartisan congressional mandate would revert to their Confederate-era names.[13][14] Congress had passed the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act requiring a commission to rename bases honoring Confederate officers. The commission completed its work, and in 2023, the bases were renamed (Fort Bragg became Fort Liberty, Fort Hood became Fort Cavazos, and so on).[13]
To work around the congressional ban on Confederate-linked names, the administration found different people with similar names as new namesakes.[14] For Fort Bragg, they chose WWII paratrooper Roland L. Bragg. Lawrence Romo, a member of the original Naming Commission, said: “They found some people with similar names so they could work around it.”[14]
Confederate monuments ordered restored
Executive Order 14253 directed the Interior Department to restore monuments removed since 2020:[15]
- The Albert Pike statue in Washington, D.C., a monument to a Confederate general pulled down during the 2020 protests, is being restored by NPS for reinstallation in Judiciary Square.[15]
- The Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, removed in 2023, is being refurbished for return in 2027.[15]
Other renamings
| What | Old name | New name |
|---|---|---|
| North America’s tallest peak | Denali | Mount McKinley |
| Body of water bordering the southern U.S. | Gulf of Mexico | Gulf of America |
| U.S. Institute of Peace | U.S. Institute of Peace | Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace |
| Kennedy Center | John F. Kennedy Center | Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center |
| Department of Defense | Department of Defense | ”Department of War” (War.gov) |
| NPS fee-free days | MLK Day, Juneteenth included | Both removed; Trump’s birthday (June 14) added |
Trump’s signature will appear on all future U.S. paper currency, the first sitting president’s signature on American money in 165 years.[29] His face is planned for a dollar coin in 2026, breaking a 100-year precedent against depicting living people on U.S. currency.[29]
What Was Taken Offline
Over 8,000 federal web pages and approximately 3,000 datasets were removed or modified across the federal government.[22] The CDC alone saw over 3,000 pages altered or removed.[22]
Civil rights and military history
Arlington National Cemetery’s website removed the profile of Medgar Evers, a WWII veteran and assassinated civil rights leader.[24] It also removed links to modules on African American History, Hispanic American History, and Women’s History.[24]
Department of Defense websites initially removed content about Navajo Code Talkers, Tuskegee Airmen, and the Marines at Iwo Jima.[24] The profile of Ira Hayes, a member of the Gila River Indian Community who raised the flag at Iwo Jima, was taken down.[24] After public outrage, some pages (including Jackie Robinson, the Tuskegee Airmen, and General Colin Powell) were restored. DoD told ABC News “some” pages were “mistakenly” removed due to the search terms used in the automated scrubbing process.[24]
LGBTQ history and data
The White House website was scrubbed of all mentions of “lesbian,” “bisexual,” “gay,” “transgender,” “sexual orientation,” and “gender identity” on Day One.[25] The Social Security Administration changed its “Social Security for LGBTQI+ People” page to “LGBQ People,” specifically removing transgender and intersex references.[25]
Across the federal government, approximately 360 data collections removed at least one measure of sexual orientation or gender identity, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA.[26] The CDC removed pages on LGBTQ youth health, including the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, one of the only federal data sources on LGBTQ adolescents.[25]
Smithsonian museums
Executive Order 14253, signed March 27, 2025, directed the Smithsonian to remove “divisive, race-centered ideology” from its institutions.[16] The order specifically targeted the American Art Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.[16] It banned the Women’s History Museum from hosting exhibits celebrating trans women.[16] The Smithsonian announced a freeze on federal hiring and closure of its Office of Diversity.[16]
The Holocaust Museum
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum made several content and programming changes that former staff describe as preemptive self-censorship:[17]
- A web page titled “Teaching Materials on Nazism and Jim Crow” was removed.[17]
- A 2018 video featuring a Holocaust survivor and a woman whose father was lynched was made unlisted on YouTube.[17]
- A workshop called “Fragility of Democracy and the Rise of the Nazis” was renamed to remove the word “fragility,” then cancelled entirely in July 2025.[17]
- The “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibit was closed in September 2025 with no explanation of what would change.[17]
Trump fired several Biden-era appointees from the museum’s governing council and installed Republican lobbyist Jeffrey Miller as chairman in March 2026.[18] The museum denies the administration ordered changes. Former employees say the museum “proactively fell in line.”[17]
Who Was Fired
The Librarian of Congress
On May 8, 2025, Trump fired Carla Hayden, the first African American and first woman to serve as Librarian of Congress.[19] Two days later, he fired Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter.[19] Trump appointed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former personal criminal defense lawyer, as acting librarian.[19]
The Library of Congress is a legislative branch institution. The Washington Post headline: “It’s called the Library of Congress. But Trump claims it’s his.”[19]
The Archivist of the United States
On February 7, 2025, Trump fired Colleen Shogan, the Archivist of the United States.[20] It was the first time a sitting president had fired the nation’s archivist since the position was established in the 1930s.[20] Shogan learned of her firing from a post on X.[20] The deputy archivist, William Bosanko, stepped down a week later after 30 years at the National Archives.[20]
NARA had played a key role in alerting the Department of Justice in 2022 that Trump had potentially mishandled classified documents.[21] As of April 2026, historians suing the administration report that NARA “won’t commit to preserving presidential records.”[21]
The Counter-Arguments
”These exhibits were pushing a political agenda, not teaching history”
The Philadelphia slavery exhibits documented the names, lives, and experiences of nine specific enslaved people owned by George Washington.[1] These are documented facts from the historical record, not interpretive arguments. The exhibits had been developed through years of community engagement and historical scholarship.[1] A federal judge ruled their removal likely violated the law.[5]
“The 1776 Commission promotes patriotic education”
The American Historical Association, the nation’s largest professional organization of historians, condemned the 1776 Commission report for being written “without consulting professional U.S. historians” and for presenting “a politicized narrative.”[27] The report argued that slavery was “more the rule than the exception throughout human history,” a framing historians criticized as minimizing America’s specific institution.[27]
“Renaming bases was divisive. This restores tradition.”
The original renaming was mandated by a bipartisan act of Congress (the FY2021 NDAA) after years of debate and a dedicated commission process.[13] The administration’s workaround, finding people with similar names to technically comply while restoring the Confederate-era names, was described by a Naming Commission member as deliberately “working around” the law.[14]
“January 6 has been mischaracterized. These were political prisoners.”
Over 1,500 defendants were charged with federal crimes. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy by unanimous juries.[8] Over 140 police officers were injured.[7] Every defendant was tried in open court with legal representation, the right to present evidence, and the right to appeal. Nine Trump-appointed judges heard January 6 cases and none found the prosecutions to be politically motivated.[7] The official White House page describing the event as a “peaceful protest” contradicts the trial record, the convictions, and the testimony of the officers who were there.[6]
“Government websites needed updating. Old content was removed routinely.”
Routine updates do not remove Medgar Evers from Arlington Cemetery’s website, delete the Navajo Code Talkers from Defense Department pages, or rewrite the causes of climate change to exclude human activity.[24][23] The DoD acknowledged that some removals were “mistaken,” which means the scrubbing was so aggressive it accidentally deleted content the administration didn’t intend to target.[24]
Where Things Stand Now
Five executive orders now direct changes to how the federal government presents American history. The Philadelphia slavery exhibits were partially restored by court order, but the appeals process continues.[5] The national parks review is ongoing.[3] The Smithsonian is operating under the constraints of EO 14253.[16] The Holocaust Museum has made preemptive changes.[17]
The January 6 page remains live on the White House website.[6] DOJ is seeking to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions.[8] Prosecutors have been punished for accurately describing the attack.[7]
Seven military bases are reverting to Confederate-linked names.[13] The Albert Pike statue is being restored.[15] The Arlington Confederate memorial is being refurbished.[15]
Denali is now McKinley on all federal maps.[9] The Gulf of Mexico is Gulf of America.[12] Trump’s signature is going on the currency. His face is going on the coin.[29]
The Librarian of Congress has been replaced by the president’s former defense attorney.[19] The Archivist of the United States has been fired.[20] The National Archives reportedly won’t commit to preserving presidential records.[21]
Over 8,000 federal web pages have been altered.[22] The EPA’s climate page no longer mentions fossil fuels.[23] Slavery exhibits have been dismantled.[1] And at Little Bighorn, the text about the government erasing Indigenous history has itself been erased.[4]
Sources
1. CNN: NPS Dismantles Slavery Exhibits at President’s House (January 2026)
2. Philadelphia Inquirer: Mayor Parker Files Lawsuit
3. Washington Post: National Park Service Reviews Exhibits Nationwide (September 2025)
4. Outside Online: Parks Remove Climate and Native History Displays
5. NPR: Federal Judge Orders Restoration of Philadelphia Slavery Signs (February 2026)
6. White House: whitehouse.gov/j6
7. CNN: DOJ Prosecutors Punished for Describing January 6 (October 2025)
8. NBC News: DOJ Moves to Vacate Seditious Conspiracy Convictions (April 2026)
9. NPR: Denali Renamed to Mount McKinley (January 2025)
10. Alaska Beacon: Alaska Legislature Passes Resolution Opposing McKinley Name
11. Native News Online: Alaska Natives Oppose McKinley Renaming
12. NPR: Gulf of Mexico Renamed Gulf of America (February 2025)
13. TIME: Trump Restores Confederate Base Names (June 2025)
14. Military.com: Base Renaming Reversal
15. CNN: Albert Pike Statue to Be Restored in DC (August 2025)
16. NPR: Smithsonian Censorship Under Executive Order 14253
17. ABC News: Holocaust Museum Content Changes (2025-2026)
18. Politico: Republican Lobbyist Installed as Holocaust Museum Chairman (March 2026)
19. Washington Post: Trump Fires Librarian of Congress (May 2025)
20. CBS News: Archivist of the United States Fired (February 2025)
21. CNN: Historians Say NARA Won’t Commit to Preserving Records (April 2026)
22. NPR: Government Environmental Websites Altered at Record Pace (August 2025)
23. CNN: EPA Rewrites Climate Change Page (December 2025)
24. Stars and Stripes: Arlington Cemetery Website Removes Medgar Evers and Diversity Content
25. NPR: LGBTQ Content Scrubbed from Federal Websites (March 2025)
26. Williams Institute at UCLA: 360 Federal Data Collections Affected
27. American Historical Association: Statement on the 1776 Report
28. CNN: Shifting Justifications for Iran Operations (March 2026)
29. Reuters: Trump Signature on All U.S. Currency (March 2026)