GA Pastor Slams NPS For MLK, Juneteenth Removal From Free Entry Days

ATLANTA, GA — A vocal Atlanta pastor and activist is speaking against the National Park Service's recent choice to drop two prominent African-American-based federal holidays from its free admission days in exchange for President Donald Trump's birthday.

During the weekend, the NPS released its list of the 2026 free entrance days at all of its sites that charge admission fees. The park service operates 63 national-designated parks, and a host of other sites, across the U.S.

Noticeably, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day (honoring the late civil-rights activist and leader in the African-American community) and Juneteeth (honoring the freedom of the last enslaved people in Texas post-Civil War) have been removed from the park service's free admission schedule next year.

However, the NPS did include Trump's birthday on June 14, former President Theodore Roosevelt's birthday on Oct. 27 and former President George Washington's birthday (Presidents Day) on Feb. 16.

The free entrance days are solely for U.S. citizens and residents, with the park service adding any non-resident must pay the regular admission price and applicable non-resident fees. The park service's latest measure takes effect on Jan. 1, 2026.

The news received criticism from Atlanta-based New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant. He told ABC News the latest move from the NPS is a "slap in the face" of not only African-Americans but of all Americans. Furthermore, Bryant said "the narcissism" has set America backwards.

"I think that America is really in a time capsule without Michael J. Fox," Bryant told ABC News. "We're going backwards to the past, and I am afraid that all that was gained in the Civil Rights Movement (is) all too suddenly being erased - from DEI to the banishments of books to the borrowing of (what's) being taught about slavery in curriculum. America has to see what is taking place. Power concedes nothing without a demand ... so, I think that we've got a ferocious fight ahead of us."

Historian Manisha Sinha, in the joint interview, said there has not been a sitting president to be honored with a free admission day at national parks - let alone, one whose birthday is not a federal holiday.

"The reasoning behind this change is a little mysterious because it will not benefit most visitors to these parks who tend to go their (on) national holidays like MLK Jr. Day and Juneteenth," she said. "Those are federal holidays."

Bryant said the news came at the time the U.S. honored the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

He maintained "everything that they did in the civil rights community is trying to be erased and dismissed as if it never happened."

National park admission is now free on Memorial Day, Independence Day and Constitution Day. The full list is as follows:

• Feb. 16: Presidents Day (Washington's Birthday)
• May 25: Memorial Day
• June 14: Flag Day/President Trump's birthday
• July 3–5: Independence Day weekend
• Aug. 25: 110th Birthday of the National Park Service
• Sept. 17: Constitution Day
• Oct. 27: Theodore Roosevelt's birthday
• Nov. 11: Veterans Day

Though there are no designated national parks in Georgia, the NPS operates the following sites in the Peach State:

• Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park
• Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
• Jimmy Carter National Historical Park
• Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park
• Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park
• Andersonville National Historic Site
• Fort Frederica National Monument
• Fort Pulaski National Monument
• Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
• Appalachian National Scenic Trail
• Cumberland Island National Seashore