CIVIL RIGHTS LANDMARKS PROPOSED FOR WORLD HERITAGE STATUS
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- Landmarks where African Americans struggled for racial equality a halfcentury ago should be considered for World Heritage status, Birmingham Mayor William Bell Jr.
proposed today. He says churches, schools, museums, a bus station and an iconic bridge will be
reviewed for inclusion.
The goal is to have the iconic civil rights battlegrounds reviewed for a group or “serial”
nomination to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO), he
said. Every state that is represented will participate in the application process.
The landmarks under consideration are Bethel Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ala.; Brown v.
Board of Education National Historic Site, Topeka, Kan.; Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist
Church, Montgomery, Ala.; Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Ala.; Foster Auditorium, Tuscaloosa,
Ala.; Frank M. Johnson Jr. Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse and Greyhound Bus Station,
Montgomery, Ala.; the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.; International Civil Rights Center &
Museum, Greensboro, N.C.; Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Little Rock,
Ark.; Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, Atlanta, Ga.; Medgar Evers House, Jackson,
Miss.; National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tenn.; 16th Street Baptist
Church, Birmingham, Ala.; and Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, Tuskegee, Ala.; and
historic West Hunter Street Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga. The multi-state partnership should
insure a stronger nomination package.
The airfield in Tuskegee where black pilots broke the racial barrier during World War II is the
earliest site proposed for consideration. Others include the North Carolina store where “sit-ins”
integrated public accommodations, a Greyhound bus station where “Freedom Riders” were
attacked for integrating transportation facilities, and the Mississippi home where black activist
Medgar Evers was assassinated.
The Topeka elementary school that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 was
unconstitutionally segregated and Central High School where three years later “the Little Rock
Nine” tested enforcement of the court decision are on the list. A governor literally “stood in the
schoolhouse door” in a futile attempt to prevent two blacks from enrolling in Alabama’s largest
university.
Five legendary churches anchor the program, including the church where the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. planned the Montgomery bus boycott, and his father’s Atlanta church where
King is buried. A Birmingham church that racists bombed, killing four girls, and less well-known
churches led by pastors Fred Shuttlesworth in Birmingham and Ralph Abernathy in Atlanta are
under review.
King figured prominently in other episodes, including the March on Washington with his “I Have
a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, the Selma voting rights marches, and the Lorraine
Motel in Memphis where a stalker killed King in 1968 with a single rifle shot, essentially bringing
the civil rights era to a tragic close.
Most sites have been previously certified as historic sites, historic landmarks, national parks, or
a similar designation, with some sites more widely recognized than others, officials said. The
mayor said that the list might change as researchers analyze the condition and sustainability of
these and other sites.
The designation would provide no government funding or supervision over any of the sites.
Alabama tourism director Lee Sentell said gaining UNESCO recognition “is a multi-year process
that will pay off with increased tourism” for successful sites. “Global tourists consider World
Heritage status to be a ‘bucket list’ to visit,” he said.
Georgia State University professor Dr. Glenn Eskew, a Birmingham native, will host a workshop
later this year or early 2017 to explain the nomination process and criteria to representatives of
potential properties. “It will be open to all interested parties,” he said.
Eskew contributed to the proposal that led the Department of Interior to place three churches
in Alabama on a “tentative list” for World Heritage Sites status in 2008.
In the U.S., property owners or their representatives prepare applications with guidance from
the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service. The Department approves final
nominations and forwards them to the World Heritage Committee.
The final decision will be made by the World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 countries
elected from all those nations who have signed the World Heritage Convention, officials said.
Some 1,000 cultural and scenic places worldwide have the World Heritage designation, with 80
percent being “cultural” or man-made. These include Britain’s Stonehenge, the Pyramids of
Giza in Egypt, the Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, and Ephesus in Turkey.
Of the 1,000, fewer than 20 man-made sites are in the U.S. Among these are the Statue of
Liberty in New York harbor, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and Thomas Jefferson’s
Monticello and his original campus of the University of Virginia. The Alamo and four other San
Antonio missions received the designation last year.
The Interior department last year nominated a group of 10 homes and other structures
designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The World Heritage Committee consider the
nomination of the Wright group or “serial” nomination, along with 28 applications from other
countries when the group meets in Istanbul, Turkey on July 10-20.
Most of the 15 man-made sites under consideration for UNESCO status this year from Greece,
Turkey, China, India, Thailand, Serbia and Croatia are archaeological sites.
UNESCO has previously inscribed two sites in the Deep South. Poverty Point, a state-operated
archaeological park west of Jackson, Miss., noted for monumental earthworks dating back
3,000 years, was added to the cultural list in 2014. The Everglades at the tip of Florida is the
Deep South’s lone natural site. Park Service staff members are currently assisting in the
application to nominate a group of ancient earthworks in Ohio.
The Birmingham mayor hosted delegates from 10 civil rights sites at an ICOMOS event in
Washington, D.C. last December. At the Washington event that recognized volunteers in
historic preservation, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell acknowledged that the
nomination process is “lengthy and difficult, as it should be,” and wished groups promoting
Frank Lloyd Wright structures and civil rights landmarks success in their efforts.
Some top international natural sites are the Galapagos Islands, Serengeti National Park,
Kilimanjaro National Park, and Mount Etna. Twelve of the U.S. 22 natural designees are large
national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Mammoth Cave,
Yellowstone, Everglades and Yosemite national parks, among others.
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April Odom, Director
Mayor's Office of Public Information
Mayor William A. Bell, Sr.
City of Birmingham, Alabama
United States
+1 205.807.7411