With all that overwhelming natural splendor, it’s easy to forget that the National Park System also preserves a wealth of other things and places. In fact, there are literally thousands of Native American heritage and cultural sites in America’s national parks, preserving archaeological sites, battlefields and cultural landmarks.
There are dozens of National Park Service sites dedicated to African American history and culture. They commemorate Black American education and innovation, as well as the era of slavery and civil rights movement, music, and prominent and influential Black Americans, such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet tubman and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Decades, even centuries, before the United States gained independence, Hispanic and Latinx people were shaping the history and culture of present-day North America. Today, this wealth of Hispanic heritage is …