Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has authorized the National Park Service to prepare a potential nomination for 11 U.S. Civil Rights Movement sites to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The sites included in the proposed nomination are:
- Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama
- Bethel Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama (part of Birmingham Civil Rights National Historic Site)
- 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama (part of Birmingham Civil Rights National Historic Site)
- Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama, (part of Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail)
- Greyhound Bus Terminal, Anniston, Alabama (part of Freedom Riders National Monument)
- Little Rock Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas (Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site)
- Ebenezer Baptist Church (Heritage Sanctuary), Atlanta, Georgia (part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park)
Monroe Elementary School, Topeka, Kansas (part of Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park) - Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home, Jackson, Mississippi (Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument)
- Robert Russa Moton High School/Museum, Farmville, Virginia
- Lincoln Memorial and Grounds, Washington, D.C. (part of National Mall and Memorial Parks)
Haaland also authorized the National Park Service to prepare a possible nomination of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia.
There are currently 1,199 World Heritage Sites in 168 countries, including 25 in the US.
“The US sites that mark the civil rights movement are integral in helping us tell a full and complete story of American history,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “We are honored to be entrusted with the responsibility of preserving these stories as part of our enduring effort to pursue a more perfect union. A nomination of these sites to the World Heritage List would further recognize the pain, redemption and healing associated with these historical sites and honor the civil rights heroes who bravely sat, marched and fought to secure equality for all Americans.”
Photo: Bethel Baptist Church, courtesy of the National Park Service
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