CIVIL RIGHTS NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK COURTHOUSES
CASE STUDY
Three courthouses were designated by the Secretary of the Interior as NHLs within the context of the Theme Study on Civil Rights in America: Racial Voting Rights.These previously NRHP-listed courthouses were designated as NHLs in thematic nominations associated with the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation in public education: the Frank M. Johnson Jr. Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse (originally the United States Post Office and Courthouse) in Montgomery, Alabama; the Elbert P.Tuttle U.S. Court of Appeals Building (originally the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse), in Atlanta, Georgia; and the John Minor Wisdom U.S. Court of Appeals Building (originally the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals), in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had jurisdiction in six southeastern states, shaped the Civil Rights Movement with momentous rulings in the wake of nation-changing events, including the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1961 Freedom Rides, the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, and desegregation of southern schools and universities following the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decisions in 1954 and 1955.These rulings served as the basis for pioneering legislative and judicial reform that followed.The three NHL-designated courthouses, as well as GSA’s NRHP-listed former Montgomery Greyhound Bus Station (acquired as part of the courthouse site), are also among several properties—including GSA’s Lewis F. Powell Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Richmond,Virginia, under consideration for inclusion in a World Heritage Site Serial Designation.
The Frank M. Johnson Jr. Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, Montgomery, AL (photo courtesy Carol M. Highsmith Photography, Inc./GSA)
IN A SPIRIT OF STEWARDSHIP: A REPORT ON FEDERAL HISTORIC PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 2018 | 21
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