Trump To Honor Black Legends In National Garden Of American Heroes
by Jameelah Mullen
February 5, 2026
Is he playing in Black people’s faces during Black History Month?
As he continues efforts to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, President Donald Trump announced plans to include Black historical figures in his proposed National Garden of American Heroes.
In a Feb
3 proclamation, the president stated that Black history is inseparable from American history and named several notable Black figures to be honored in the park.
“ I have authorized the construction of the National Garden of American Heroes, a new statuary park honoring our greatest Americans, including black icons like Booker T. Washington, Jackie Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Coretta Scott King, Muhammad Ali, and many others,” the proclamation reads.
Trump initially announced plans for the garden in February 2025, praising abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass as “black patriots.” He also revealed that the park will feature a statue of Prince Estabrook, who fought in the Revolutionary War while enslaved. The nation’s first convicted felon president noted that Estabrook was the first American to “spill blood” in the war, claiming that by fighting in the war, Estabrook “won his own freedom.”
During that announcement, Trump slammed far-left politicians, claiming that they “needlessly divide our citizens based on race, painting a toxic and distorted and disfigured vision of our history, heritage, and heroes.”
Trump’s Black History Month proclamation seems to conflict with his administration’s efforts to defund organizations and programs that aim to support Black people and other marginalized groups.
“Since the start of Trump’s second term, we have seen a coordinated effort to erase or rewrite parts of American history, especially Black history and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement,” Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., told Axios.
Last month, the Trump administration ordered the removal of a slavery exhibit at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park as part of its effort to comply with the administration’s goal of “restoring truth and sanity to American history.” This action was part of a broader effort to eliminate narratives about slavery and racism in U.S. history.
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