The Trump administration isn’t bothering with subtext anymore. Next year, Americans will get free admission to national parks on a new set of designated dates—but Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth are no longer among them.
Instead, the National Park Service has added President Donald Trump’s birthday, which lands on Flag Day.
It’s a small bureaucratic change with an unmistakable message about what the administration chooses to spotlight—and what it doesn’t.
Yosemite National Park in California
Until now, MLK Day and Juneteenth—two of the country’s most visible markers of Black history and freedom—had been routine fixtures on the National Park Service’s annual list. In 2024, both were included. Trump’s birthday, June 14, was not.
Civil rights leaders saw the shift for precisely what it was.
“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Cornell William Brooks, a Harvard Kennedy School professor and former NAACP president, wrote on X.
Democrats, too, quickly denounced the move.
“The president didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada wrote on X. “Our country deserves better.”
The Trump administration’s broader pattern makes the decision even more challenging to dismiss as an oversight. Since returning to the White House, Trump has worked to dismantle DEI programs, scrub references to systemic racism from federal agencies, and elevate his own image at every turn.
He pushed to rename the U.S. Institute of Peace after himself and to have a Washington NFL stadium named after him. This new parks policy slots neatly into that pattern.
The Interior Department announced the changes late last month, outlining higher prices for international visitors and unveiling a new slate of “resident-only patriotic fee-free days” for 2026, including Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, the Independence Day weekend, Constitution Day, Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, Veterans Day, and Flag Day/Trump’s birthday.
Gone are not only MLK Day and Juneteenth, but also the first day of National Park Week, National Public Lands Day, and the anniversary of the passing of the Great American Outdoors Act.
The Interior Department, led by Secretary Doug Burgum, framed the policy as simple fairness.
“These policies ensure that U.S. taxpayers, who already support the National Park System, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share,” Burgum said at the time.
And the policy’s details make the shift even sharper.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum
Beginning in 2026, fee-free days will apply only to U.S. citizens and residents. International visitors—already facing increases at 11 of the country’s most popular parks—will pay an extra $100 on top of the standard fee. Annual passes for nonresidents will jump to $250, while residents will continue paying $80.
The policy follows a July executive order directing agencies to increase fees for non-American visitors and to grant U.S. citizens “preferential treatment” for access to public lands, permits, and lotteries.
This all comes on the heels of the National Park Service sparking a firestorm this spring after quietly removing web pages about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad—and restoring them only after backlash. Around the same time, the Pentagon wiped references to Jackie Robinson’s military service from its sites.
Seen against that backdrop, the park-day shuffle isn’t an isolated administrative tweak—but another brick in a larger project to rewrite which parts of American history get elevated and which get erased.
Removing MLK Day and Juneteenth while elevating Trump’s birthday sends a message that barely requires decoding. It’s an attempt to recenter the national story around Trump while erasing the country’s most painful and essential chapters.
Another year, another reminder: Trump’s project isn’t just political. It’s historical—what gets remembered, what gets erased, and who gets honored.
