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U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has recommended the National Park Service to add the Edmund Pettus Bridge to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List.

Haaland sees the Edmund Pettus Bridge as a big part of the Civil Rights movement, the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, known for Bloody Sunday and leading to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell said she’s pleased to see Selma get historical recognition.

“As a daughter of Selma and representative of Alabama’s Civil Rights District, I take very seriously my role as a protector of our rich Civil Rights legacy, which is why I have made it a top priority to secure federal funds and protections for Alabama’s historic civil rights sites,” Sewell said.  

If the Edmund Pettus Bridge gets designated, it will join other cultural and natural sites of universal importance across the country.  Selma City Council President Billy Young said he will wait to comment until Edmund Pettus gets selected. 

“The U.S. sites that mark the civil rights movement are integral in helping us tell a full and complete story of American history,” Haaland said in a release. “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.”  

The department will work with partners and consult with the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage on the completed document before deciding to submit the nomination.