Haaland proposes civil rights sites for World Heritage List

By Rob Hotakainen | 07/16/2024 04:06 PM EDT

The Interior Department will nominate 11 sites that commemorate the nation’s civil rights movement to join the UNESCO list.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2022 speaking with reporters while standing outside the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Jackson, Mississippi. Rogelio V. Solis/AP

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Tuesday proposed adding 11 sites that honor the nation’s civil rights movement to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

“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,” Haaland said in a statement.

The sites, including nine that are managed by the National Park Service, are in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

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Haaland, who oversees NPS, said she had authorized the agency to prepare a potential nomination for the new sites.

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