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National parks change prioritizes Trump birthday over days honoring Black people
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Free entrance days at national parks no longer include MLK Day and Juneteenth
Kylie Mohr
A park ranger leads a tour at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta.
The Donald Trump administration has changed which holidays qualify for free entrance to national parks, removing two holidays celebrating Black people and adding the president’s birthday.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an annual federal holiday that happens on the third Monday of January, close to the civil rights leader’s Jan. 15 birthday. Historically, it’s been the first fee-free day of the year for national parks, which waive entrance fees several days a year.
Now, visitors to the 116 parks that charge entrance fees will no longer get in for free on MLK Day or on Juneteenth, a federal holiday on June 19 that celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. They will, however, on Trump’s June 14 birthday, which was added to the list this year. Parks charge admission fees that range from $3 to $30, according to the National Park Service.
“This policy shift is deeply concerning,” said Tyrhee Moore, the executive director of Soul Trak Outdoors, a nonprofit that connects urban communities of color to the outdoors. “Removing free-entry days on MLK Day and Juneteenth sends a troubling message about who our national parks are for. These holidays hold profound cultural and historical significance for Black communities, and eliminating them as access points feels like a direct targeting of the very groups who already face systemic barriers to the outdoors.”
Moore told SFGATE that his organization works to push back against “these kinds of systemic attempts that disguise exclusion as administrative or political decisions.” “Policies like this reinforce inequalities around access and visibly show how systems can create obstacles that keep communities of color from feeling welcomed in public spaces,” he said.
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Other free entrance days in 2026 include Presidents Day (Washington’s Birthday), Memorial Day, Independence Day weekend, the 110th birthday of the National Park Service, Constitution Day, Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday and Veterans Day. Along with MLK Day and Juneteenth, National Public Lands Day and the anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act were also removed.
People view the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial before Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., in 2025.
People view the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial before Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., in 2025.
NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Department of the Interior and the National Park Service did not respond to questions about why MLK Day is no longer included. “We condemn the omission of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Juneteenth, National Public Lands Day, and the anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act as Free Entrance Days,” said Olivia Juarez, the public land program director for the nonprofit GreenLatinos, in a statement. “... These observances are patriotic days that celebrate freedom and safety in the outdoors. They should be celebrated as such by removing a simple cost barrier that can make parks more accessible to low income households.”
In 1994, Congress designated MLK Day as a National Day of Service, encouraging Americans to do community service to honor King and his commitment to racial equity. In the past, the Park Service has hosted volunteer events on MLK Day in addition to providing free entrance to the parks. That has included volunteers weeding and pruning at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park; planting native plants at Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas; removing graffiti from an overlook at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas; and picking up litter at Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.
FILE: Hot Springs National Park was established in 1921, shown here in Hot Springs, Ark., on April 22, 2005.
FILE: Hot Springs National Park was established in 1921, shown here in Hot Springs, Ark., on April 22, 2005.
Beth Harpaz/AP
The Park Service has celebrated King in the past, with one agency website stating: “The National Park Service preserves the stories of Dr. King’s life and its profound impact on the Civil Rights Movement in our national parks and in communities across the country through the work of our programs and partnerships.”
“Why is MLK day not worthy of a fee free day anymore?” wrote Kati Schmidt, the communications director for the National Parks Conservation Association, to SFGATE in an email. “That has become a day of service through out the country as well as celebrating an American hero who has several park units celebrating his legacy.”
Park Service sites recognizing King’s contribution to American history and the Civil Rights Movement include the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta, which offers ranger-led tours of where he was born and where he worked as a pastor. Georgia is also home to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. The Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail in Alabama commemorates a famous voting rights march that King led in 1965. King is also honored by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. (The nearby Lincoln Memorial, managed by the Park Service, is where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.)
National Parks Rangers salute during the “Let Freedom Ring” ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 2013. The event commemorated the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty
The change comes at a time when the Trump administration has tried to police “negative” history in national parks. On May 20, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told park officials to display signs encouraging visitors to report information in parks that seemed negative about either past or living Americans. In June, such signs went up at Manzanar National Historic Site, a prison camp where more than 10,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II. An exhibit that talked about colonial violence against the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo peoples, the original stewards of the area, was removed from Muir Woods National Monument this summer.
But acts of resistance are popping up, too. An online group of historians is archiving signs that may be at risk of removal before they’re gone. And hundreds of park visitors have used the QR codes intended for reporting “negative” history to instead submit comments in support of the Park Service.
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