Topeka Poised To Become Home To Unesco World Heritage Site Stop, Black Collective Helping To Advance Civil Rights Trail Nomination
The Topeka-based Black American Blueprint Collective (“The Black Collective”) is proud to announce that Topeka’s Monroe Elementary School, part of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park, is up for consideration to become an internationally recognized cultural landmark. Georgia State University’s (GSU) World Heritage Initiative has been leading the charge to nominate multiple sites on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail as worthy of UNESCO World Heritage Site status, with the Monroe school being among them.
The Topeka school involved in the watershed Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, which outlawed segregation in U.S. public schools, is one of 11 U.S. Civil Rights Movement sites on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail that are being included in a World Heritage List serial nomination being prepared and submitted by the GSU World Heritage Initiative. The Black Collective is pleased to announce this news on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in honor of the leader’s civil rights legacy.
At a brunch in late 2024 commemorating The Black Collective’s 2nd anniversary, Sherri Camp, the collective’s executive director, offered an update on the UNESCO nomination, noting that a GSU delegation has now visited Topeka and the Monroe school multiple times to exchange information about the Civil Rights Trail nomination.
“This designation would be huge for Topeka,” Camp said. “I’ve been part of a local team hosting the delegation to move the nomination forward since they first visited in 2018. Monroe Elementary School is the only Midwest site considered in the nomination, and it’s important for the community to rally around this effort. If it succeeds, a historic site right here in Topeka, Kansas, would join the ranks of universally recognized cultural landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Grand Canyon, Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, Taj Mahal in India, and many more.”
Fellow U.S. Civil Rights Trail sites included in the serial nomination are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia and Washington, DC. The World Heritage Initiative intends to submit the nomination in August 2025 for review. The final dossier will be submitted in January 2026 to the World Heritage Centre in Paris, with a final assessment by the International Council on Monuments and Sites in early fall 2026. A decision will be made by the World Heritage Committee during its 49th Session in 2027.
There are currently more than 1,000 UNESCO World Heritage Sites across 168 countries, with 25 sites located in the U.S. Becoming a World Heritage Site opens the door to recognition and resources that can increase notoriety and tourism, and help with site maintenance and management. The designation demonstrates “Outstanding Universal Value” to humanity, with list sites reflecting exceptional examples of cultural and natural heritage.
