By Kaanita Iyer, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Aleena Fayaz, CNN
(CNN) — When tourists see a statue of Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a 19th-century explorer, at a Grand Teton National Park visitor center this spring, a marker beneath it that used to be there will now be missing.
It had asked visitors: “How do we acknowledge the good and bad of a figure?” pointing out that Doane’s expedition led to the designation of the first national park – but also that he helped lead a massacre of at least 173 members of the Piegan Blackfeet – an act he bragged about throughout his life.
Its removal was cited in a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior, which manages the country’s national parks, as one of many changes wrought by President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order directing the agency to “take action” against public content that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
The Trump administration argues the order ensures that American history is portrayed in a positive light. But critics say it is erasing elements of the nation’s past.
“We are killing them all over again,” said Tom Rodgers, a member of the Blackfeet Nation who is known as One Who Rides His Horse East, referring to victims of the massacre, which he called one of the “most despicable historical experiences” for Native Americans.
“I think we’re at a point in our country where people think that if you tell half the truth, you’ve told all the truth, and that in itself, is a lie,” he said. “It’s Orwellian.”
As the country heads into peak tourist season, evidence of the administration’s unprecedented cultural overhaul will be on display at national parks around the country. The removal of the words at Grand Teton is one of at least 45 changes that were carried out under the executive order, according to Save Our Signs, an advocacy group that tracks changes to National Park Service displays.
For example, in California’s Muir Woods National Monument, signs on the contributions of Native Americans and women have been removed, including a note informing visitors that John Muir once referred to indigenous people using racist language in his diaries and ignored “the genocide they survived.”
“This contributes to an idea that indigenous people don’t belong in parks,” the sign once said.
The administration has also taken aim at warnings about climate change, a factor that impacts monuments placed in natural landscapes.
At South Carolina’s Fort Sumter National Monument, a sign that included details on the looming impacts of climate change, including information on how “rising seas could inundate most of the fort’s walls and flood the historic parade ground” has been removed in its entirety.
The Interior Department told CNN that at Fort Sumter, it “acted to replace materials that were not grounded in real science with information that is accurate, evidence-based, and aligned with how the world actually works.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, a display on George Mason, a founding father, has removed references to him “paradoxically” owning slaves despite being a champion of “individual rights.”
The removals come as America enters a moment replete with opportunity to reflect upon its history, with celebrations to commemorate its 250th birthday throughout this year.
The Trump administration’s efforts have drawn backlash from some lawmakers and advocacy groups, including the February lawsuit from a coalition of conservationists and advocates citing the Doane and other sign removals. It accused the administration of “mounting a sustained campaign to erase history and undermine science.” The case in Massachusetts is still pending.
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