The Administration tried to erase public history from national parks, monuments, and museums. Exhibits and signs about slavery, civil rights, Indigenous history, climate change, labor movements, and diverse communities were removed, revised, or targeted because they did not fit the administration’s preferred political narrative.

A federal judge has ordered those materials restored. The court ruled that the Interior Department acted without authority when it removed signs and exhibits from National Park Service sites, violating congressional mandates that govern how our national parks are supposed to operate.

Now Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is considering an appeal. Congress must not let the Trump administration keep fighting to censor history after a federal court told them to stop.

Our national parks are public classrooms. They help millions of people understand the full story of this country, including the parts that are painful and essential to understanding who we are. When the federal government removes exhibits about slavery, climate science, Indigenous history, or civil rights, it makes the public less informed.

The same political project is attacking public schools. Across the country, extremists are pushing book bans, intimidating educators, whitewashing curriculum, and trying to make honest teaching about race, history, science, gender, and democracy harder or impossible.

Public School Strong is leading Democracy Is Teaching Truth by inviting educators, students, public servants, and community members to defend the freedom to learn. Through America 433+: Our National Parks, A Shared Story Worth Sharing, Public School Strong and our partners are organizing to protect and amplify endangered historical and scientific narratives across all 433 National Park sites.

Congress needs to hear two clear demands. First, lawmakers must publicly pressure the Interior Department not to appeal the ruling and to restore the removed materials. Second, Congress must pass federal protections for accurate historical and scientific education in public schools, so book bans and whitewashed curriculum cannot silence the truth nationwide.

Click “Start Writing” to tell Congress to stop the purge of public history and defend the freedom to learn.