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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS–WASO–OIA–DTS-37984; PPWODIREI0 - PIN00IO15.XI0000]
U.S. Nomination to the World Heritage List: U.S. Civil Rights Movement Sites
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
SUMMARY: This notice announces the decision to request that the Georgia State University’s
World Heritage Initiative prepare a draft nomination of U.S. Civil Rights Sites for inclusion on
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World
Heritage List. The decision is the result of consultation with the Federal Interagency Panel for
World Heritage and the review of public comments submitted in response to an earlier notice.
This notice complies with applicable World Heritage Program regulations.
ADDRESSES: To request paper copies of documents discussed in this notice, contact April
Brooks, Office of International Affairs, National Park Service, 1849 C St. NW, Room 2415,
Washington, DC, 20240, (202) 354-1808, or send electronic mail (Email) to:
april_brooks@nps.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Putnam, 202–354–1809.
Information on the U.S. World Heritage program can be found at:
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/internationalcooperation/worldheritage.htm.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background.
The World Heritage List is an international list of cultural and natural properties
nominated by the signatories to the World Heritage Convention (1972). The United States was
the prime architect of the Convention, an international treaty for preservation of natural and
cultural heritage sites of global significance. The World Heritage Committee, composed of

representatives of 21 nations periodically elected as the governing body of the World Heritage
Convention, makes the final decisions on which nominations to accept on the World Heritage
List. There are 1,199 sites in 168 countries. Currently there are 25 World Heritage Sites in the
United States. U.S. participation and the roles of the Department of the Interior (Department) and
the National Park Service (NPS) are authorized by Title IV of the Historic Preservation Act
Amendments of 1980 and conducted in accordance with 36 CFR part 73—World Heritage
Convention. Each State Party to the Convention maintains a Tentative List, periodically updated,
of properties that are considered suitable for nomination. Only properties on the Tentative List
are eligible to officially prepare nominations that the Department may consider for submission.
An entry for U.S. Civil Rights Sites, including three churches in Alabama, has included on the
U.S. Tentative List since 2008. Neither inclusion in the list nor inscription as a World Heritage
Site imposes legal restrictions on owners or neighbors of sites, nor does it give the United
Nations any management authority or ownership rights in U.S. World Heritage Sites, which
continue to be subject only to U.S. law.
The Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks (Assistant Secretary) initiates the
process to nominate U.S. sites to the World Heritage List by publishing a notice in the Federal
Register seeking public comment on which properties on the U.S. Tentative List should be
nominated next by the United States. The first notice (88 FR 37270, as required by 36 CFR
73.7©) was published on June 7, 2023. Following the publication of the first notice, the
Assistant Secretary consults the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage to review the
public comments submitted and make a recommendation. If the Panel recommends that a
property, or properties, be nominated and the recommendation is accepted by the Assistant
Secretary, a second notice is issued. The Assistant Secretary authorized a draft nomination for
the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in 2023 and the U.S. Civil Rights Sites is the second
nomination authorized (authorization was delayed pending completion of an assessment of the
proposed nomination by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, see below). This is

the second notice as required by 36 CFR 73.7(f) on the proposed nomination. The Panel assists
the Department in implementing the Convention by making recommendations on U.S. World
Heritage policy, procedures, and nominations. The Panel is chaired by the Assistant Secretary.
Decision to Request the Preparation of a New U.S. World Heritage Nomination.
The Department received over 10,300 comments in response to the first notice, many of
them regarding both the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the U.S. Civil Rights Sites,
all of which were expressions of support from the property owners, elected representatives at
local, state, and Federal levels, individuals, institutions, and museums. There were no comments
against nominating any property, including this nomination.
The Department considered all comments received as well as the advice of the Federal
Interagency Panel for World Heritage.
The Department has selected the U.S. Civil Rights Sites as a proposed U.S. serial
nomination to the World Heritage List. With the assistance of the Department, including the
completion of appropriate consultation with Native American Tribal governments, the Georgia
State University World Heritage Initiative, along with supporting organizations and property
owners, is encouraged to develop a complete nomination, in accordance with 36 CFR part 73 and
the nomination format required by the World Heritage Committee.
The U.S. Civil Rights Sites nomination includes the three churches in Alabama that were
included in the Tentative List in 2008: Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church,
Montgomery, Alabama; Bethel Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama; and, 16th Street Baptist
Church, Birmingham, Alabama. Additional properties also authorized to be part of the
nomination include: Robert Russa Moton High School/Museum, Farmville, Virginia; Monroe
Elementary School, Topeka, Kansas (part of Brown v. Board of Education National Historical
Park); 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); Greyhound Bus Terminal, Anniston,

Alabama (part of Freedom Riders National Monument); Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home,
Jackson, Mississippi (Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument); Lincoln Memorial
and Grounds, Washington, District of Columbia (part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks);
Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama, (part of Selma to Montgomery National Historical
Trail).
The U.S. Civil Rights Sites proposal was evaluated on a preliminary basis by the
International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in 2023 which provided an
assessment report. The assessment was based on a visit by international experts to most of the
proposed properties and desk reviews by experts of materials developed by Georgia State
University. When the Federal Interagency Panel met to consider the proposal it recommended
authorization of a draft nomination with the stipulation that the ICOMOS recommendations on
the selection of properties and other matters be sufficiently addressed as the nomination is
developed. Only eight of the ten additional properties are currently eligible for nomination. Two
additional properties in the Georgia State proposal are not included in the authorization at this
time. The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee and the Woolworth’s store in Greensboro,
North Carolina are not currently National Historic Landmarks, but could be added to the
nomination if they obtain the necessary designation of national significance. In the course of
developing the nomination, a small number of additional properties could be added to respond to
the ICOMOS recommendations.
The U.S. Civil Rights Sites are the locations of iconic events in the mid-20th century civil
rights movement for African Americans in the United States of America. This movement both
drew from and had a profound influence on human rights movements elsewhere in the world,
particularly insofar as they embody techniques of non-violent social change hitherto most
powerfully expressed by Mahatma Gandhi. The current components in the draft nomination
collectively played a preeminent role in the movement and will be nominated under criterion vi

for association with events and ideas of outstanding universal value. Additional components will
be considered for inclusion in keeping with the recommendations of ICOMOS.
Next Steps.
A draft World Heritage nomination for U.S. Civil Rights Sites may now be prepared, in
consultation with the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs. The NPS will
coordinate the review and evaluation of the draft nomination to ensure it meets the requirements
of 36 CFR part 73 and will cooperate with the Georgia State University World Heritage
Initiative, the property owners, and other partners. Following NPS review of a complete draft
nomination, the Department may submit it to the World Heritage Centre for technical review by
September 30 of any year. The Centre will then provide comments by November 15 of that year.
The Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage will review a draft nomination following
receipt of the Centre’s comments and recommend to the Department whether the nomination
should be formally submitted for consideration by the World Heritage Committee. Submittal to
the World Heritage Centre by the Department through the Department of State can be made by
February 1 of any year (prior to 2026, at which time a new procedure of the World Heritage
Committee will take effect); the World Heritage Committee would then consider the nomination
at its annual meeting in the summer of the following year, after an evaluation by ICOMOS,
which is an official Advisory Body to the Committee.
Authority: 54 U.S.C. 307101; 36 CFR part 73.
Shannon A. Estenoz,
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 2024-15806 Filed: 7/17/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 7/18/2024]