The Strength of Our Past

The Founding Fathers understood that the American experiment they had begun would be messy, even flawed — an ongoing work in progress. It’s right there in the Preamble to the Constitution, after all — that their hope for the new nation was that we would strive for “a more perfect Union.”

But the only way for the country to forge a more perfect future is to honestly account for its past. The American story is full of triumph, just as it is full of tragedy, and it is often the dark or difficult chapters of the past from which we can learn the most. Grow the most. Heal the most. It is those chapters that are vital to telling a more complete and accurate American story.

The National Park Service protects the places and preserves the stories that are part of that history, from the camps where Japanese American citizens were incarcerated during wartime to prominent sites from the struggle for civil rights. But some of those places and stories are now at grave risk, as the administration takes actions to revise – even to erase – parts of the shared past that, together, help to define American history.

Imagine America without… the unsung heroines of Stonewall

Press Release

Parks Group Condemns Erasure of LGBTQ+ History from Park Service Website

The federal government is undermining National Park Service efforts to maintain

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America is a nation of pioneers – people with vison and courage, strong enough to take a stand or to blaze a trail. Pioneers like Stormé DeLarverie, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera helped shape modern social movements. At a time when LGBTQ+ Americans were forced into the shadows, they were fighting for equality and fighting to simply be recognized for who they really were. They were leaders who shaped American history, and their stories became part of Stonewall National Monument.

Stonewall National Monument, in the heart of New York City, tells a gripping story through its pictures and testimonials, but also through the streets and storefronts all around. The social movement that ignited here was shaped by its surroundings — put simply, the story of the place and the story of the people can’t be told without each other.

But fifty years after the Stonewall Uprising, all mentions of trans and queer people were deleted from National Park Service websites – including the historic roles played by Stormé DeLarverie, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. American history is full of pioneers like these, who were bold enough to speak truth to power. Instead of censoring American history, our government should be proud that our nation produced leaders like these.