The Black Soldiers Who Built America's National Parks

They protected the wilderness, but history erased them

In 2024, the National Park Service renamed a giant sequoia tree in Sequoia National Park after Brigadier General Charles Young, commemorating the posthumous promotion of the man who, in 1903, became the first Black superintendent of any national park in America. Most visitors driving past have no idea they’re on a road his troops built, walking trails h…