Notice2024-15806
U.S. Nomination to the World Heritage List: U.S. Civil Rights Movement Sites
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
July 18, 2024
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 138 (Thursday, July 18, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 138 (Thursday, July 18, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58404-58405]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15806]
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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.
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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: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6908191b0005360b1b0606021a2907191a470e061f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a5c4d5d7ccc9fac7d7cacaced6e5cbd5d68bc2cad3">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Putnam, 202-354-1809.
Information on the U.S. World Heritage program can be found at:<a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/internationalcooperation/worldheritage.htm">https://www.nps.gov/subjects/internationalcooperation/worldheritage.htm</a>.
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(c) 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
[[Page 58405]]
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 7-17-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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