Trump Removes MLK Day and Junetenth From Free-Entry Parks
The Trump administration has quietly rewritten which holidays unlock free entry to America’s national parks in 2026 and the changes are already stirring national outrage.
The new National Park Service “fee-free” calendar no longer includes Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, two federal holidays that honor Black civil rights and emancipation, while adding June 14: Flag Day, which is also Donald Tump’s birthday. Although both MLK Day and Juneteenth remain federal holidays, park admission will no longer be waived for American citizens on those days.
The Interior Department’s updated schedule still includes Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day weekend, Constitution Day, Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, Veterans Day and the Park Service’s own anniversary – but no dates linked to Black history.
In a blistering statement, NAACP president Derrick Johnson called the move “more than petty politics — it’s an attack on the truth of this nation’s history,” arguing that stripping the only fee-free days tied to Black history “diminish[es] the visibility” of Black resilience and turns public lands into political props. Members of Dr. King’s family said they were “beyond disappointed,” warning that removing free entry on MLK Day and Juneteenth “contradicts the very inclusion these holidays represent.”
Taken together with Trump’s broader push to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the country, the move sends a message about which histories the federal government chooses to spotlight and which communities it is willing to make pay more for access to America.
