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The Trump administration removed more than four dozen installations and other materials at national parks around the country, following its initiative to rid the parks of anything that “disparages Americans past or living,” a recent court filing shows.The administration submitted the filing in response to a judge’s ruling last week that it has to restore exhibits and signs on topics like slavery and climate change that it had removed from parks and monuments nationwide because they "do not align with its preferred narrative."Here’s what you should know about the list of items that were affected.From portrait descriptions to junior ranger booksA court filing from June 17 reveals that the Trump administration removed 57 exhibits, signs and other materials from parks and monuments around the country, largely for two reasons –– either it was deemed “unrelated to beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the natural landscape,” or it “Disparages Americans past or living.”U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston issued a preliminary injunction June 12 blocking the administration’s effort to remake the parks, after several groups representing conservationists, historians and scientists, filed a lawsuit arguing that the Department of the Interior has been engaged in a "sustained campaign to erase history and undermine science."Part of that injunction required the administration to submit a list of the items that had been targeted thus far.Among the items that were removed for “disparaging Americans” are:A portrait description at Independence National Historic ParkA tribal land acknowledgement posting at George Washington Memorial ParkwayJunior ranger books at Buck Island Reef National Monument, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, and Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Historic MonumentAfrican American Civil War Memorial Wayside at the National Mall and Memorial ParksAdministration’s call for public help backfiresThe removal of the materials was in response to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in the first few months of his second term that called on federal officials to scour monuments, memorials and statues and remove language the administration said supports a “revisionist movement” that centers American history as "inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed."To bolster that effort, the Interior Department put up what critics call "snitch signs" with QR codes in national parks to encourage visitors to report any signage that portrays Americans negatively or centers narratives about enslavement, land theft or discrimination. That campaign largely backfired, as USA TODAY previously reported.Contributing: Nate Raymond and David Thomas, ReutersDrew Pittock covers national trending news for USA TODAY. He can be reached at DPittock@usatodayco.com.
