National Parks Traveler Podcast | Disappearing Black History

This past week unspecified interpretive materials related to slavery were either removed or tagged for removal from Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia. It also was reported that a troubling photo known as the “Scourged Back” that depicted the scar-riddled back of an enslaved man was taken down from Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia.

The National Park System has been pulled into the current-day battles of wokeism of sorts through the removal of those, and likely other, interpretive materials in the parks that help us better understand enslaved history. Where it will end, or whether it will be reversed, is unknown.

To better understand what’s transpiring and what the impacts are, we’ve invited Alan Spears, the senior director for cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, to join us today.