Jackie Robinson, the African American baseball great who integrated the major leagues and praised San Antonio’s lunch counter integration, must be smiling . . .
We’re so excited to announce the Woolworth Building is one of 25 sites named to the 2020 World Monuments Watch List!
Woolworth’s desegregated its popular lunch counter without demonstrations in 1960.
This international listing recognizes the Woolworth Building as a site of great historic significance and contemporary social impact. The former store stands out as one of only three sites in the United States to make the list, and one of seven featured in the World Monuments Fund’s video.
Please be sure to visit our Call to Action to find out how to contact State officials near the bottom of that page. Ask them to respect and include African American history on Alamo Plaza by preserving this multi-cultural landmark.
"We Don't Have to Choose One Thing Over Another"
Conservation Society President's Statement
“The inclusion of the Woolworth Building on the World Monuments Watch List validates what we have been saying about the importance of Civil Rights history on Alamo Plaza.
The peaceful and voluntary integration of San Antonio lunch counters in March 1960 was a story that needed to be told around the world, according to baseball great Jackie Robinson. Today that story is finally being told around the world.
There is plenty of room at the Alamo to tell the full 300 years of San Antonio history. For 80 years the Alamo was a mission. For 50 years it was a fort, and for 170 years it has been the center of a growing city. Telling the story of Civil Rights at the Alamo adds greatly to the power of this place to convey the message of freedom and justice.”
