President Trump and his administration have recently canceled Black History Month celebrations across federal agencies. Black history is American history though, and many of America’s national parks safeguard this vital part of our heritage.
Through the places it protects, the National Park Service (NPS) tells the stories of Americans of all races and ethnicities, rooting them in the landscape of America, daring people to forget them.
There may always be attempts to eliminate these parks, to stop these stories from being told. It is up to all of us to keep this history alive. So here, before they are perhaps gone, are ten (and more) US national parks, that celebrate the stories of African Americans.
In August of 1619, 20 to 30 enslaved people from Angola were unloaded as cargo at Fort Monroe. These were the first enslaved Africans in English North America.
Today the Fort commemorates their landing with a celebration of freedom each August. Fort Monroe National Monument, known as Freedom’s Fortress, was also a Union safehouse for those freeing slavery during the Civil War.
There are not one but two national parks dedicated to the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman. The Maryland park tells of her enslavement and traces her journeys (13 in total) to free an estimated 70 enslaved people as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
The New York park honors her life as a freewoman and the ways she helped her community, from starting a home for aging Black Americans to being the first woman to lead an armed military operation in the US, which she did on behalf of the Union during the American Civil War (an operation that freed over 700 enslaved people).
Booker T. Washington was born into slavery on a farm in Southwest Virginia, and today that farm is a national park site named for him. The park tells the story of the enslaved people who lived there–their struggles, joys, and labor–and also celebrates each Juneteenth the moment when they were freed.
It also shares the sometimes controversial legacy of Washington, who was an educator, orator, cofounder of the Tuskegee Institute, and advisor to presidents.
4. Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site (Alabama)
Designed and initially run by Booker T. Washington, the Tuskegee Institute (today known as Tuskegee University), was the first educational institution in the American South to have an all-Black faculty. Educators like George Washington Carver brought their brilliance to the institute and made it famous throughout the country as a place of innovation and excellence. The site was also host to the immoral Tuskegee medical experiments and the training ground for the exceptional Tuskegee Airmen.
5. New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park (Louisiana)
The New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park celebrates the origins and evolutions of a unique American artform–jazz. Though small (covering four acres in the heart of historic New Orleans), this park is popular and vibrant, hosting musicians and musical events that honor the contributions of New Orleans to the development of Black music in America.
6. Nicodemus National Historic Site (Kansas)
Established at the end of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, Nicodemus is the oldest and only remaining Black settlement west of the Mississippi River. Going back to the days of “Bleeding Kansas” (a series of violent conflicts over slavery that ended in Kansas entering the union as a state free of slavery), Kansas was seen by many African Americans as a place of freedom and hope. Nicodemus was a small town built by Blacks for Blacks and the national park site maintains its unique culture and history.
7. Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park (Kansas)
Another Kansas park vital to American history commemorates the monumental Brown v. Board of Education case, which overturned segregation by race in schools in the US and initiated the racial integration of schools across the country. The park is set at one of the four segregated elementary schools in Topeka, Kansas that took part in the lawsuit and displays exhibits that share the history of segregation and the fight to end it.
8. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park (Georgia)
The MLK, Jr. National Historical Park and Preservation District conveys the story of one of the most important figures in US history. The park oversees King’s home and the church where he was baptized and became a pastor, as well as a visitor center with exhibits about King’s work and legacy.
9. Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail (Alabama)
Led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, the 1965 Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama was a pivotal point in the fight for African American voting rights in the US. Activists marched 54 miles through rural Alabama, where resistance to voting rights was strongest.
In Selma, they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where they were blocked by police who beat them so brutally the event is known as “Bloody Sunday.” This violent scene was so horrific that it sparked a public outcry and further protest which led to African Americans gaining the right to vote across the nation.
10. Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument (Ohio)
The Charles Young National Monument tells the story of Young and the men he led: the Buffalo Soldiers, who played a vital role in the establishment and protection of America’s early national parks.
Charles Young was a Black US soldier who, despite facing significant racism, rose to become an officer and leader in the US military. Young was the first African American national park superintendent, overseeing Sequoia National Park as the leader of the Buffalo soldiers who ran the park in its infancy.
There are so many more African American stories to learn and share in America’s national parks. Explore more on the National Park Service website.