Context: While Europe was busy tearing itself apart in the trenches of WWI, the US was busy being gorgeous. On August 25, 1916, Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act, creating the NPS. So while the soldiers in France were saying "I hate everything about this," Wilson was out here with a peace sign headband saying "I love everything about this." The meme is just pointing out that 1916 was a very different year depending on which side of the Atlantic you were on.
https://time.com/5562258/indigenous-environmental-justice/
Spence points out that the first so-called wilderness areas that had been deemed in need of preserving were not only and in actuality Indigenous-occupied landscapes when the first national parks were established, but also that an uninhabited wilderness had to first be created. He examines the creation of Yellowstone, Glacier and Yosemite National Parks in particular to illustrate the way the myth of uninhabited virgin wilderness has for more than a century obscured a history of Native land dispossession in the name of preservation and conservation and serves as the foundation of the environmental movement.
https://aicago.org/indigenous-stewardship-and-the-legacy-of-national-parks-on-tribal-lands/
The establishment of national parks often came at a significant cost to Indigenous communities. Parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon were created through the forced removal of Native peoples who had lived there for millennia. Treaties were ignored, sacred sites were taken, and traditional practices such as hunting, fishing, and ceremonies were outlawed. This exclusion set the stage for a century-long struggle for recognition and rights.
I hate being that guy who rains on every parade but I have VERY complicated feelings about the national parks
Woodrow was a damn racist and enemy of the working class
Don't forget jailing reporters who wrote articles criticizing his policies.
Once in a while, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn.
The National Park Service just happens to be Woodrow Wilson's acorn.
