The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has expressed support for a petition urging the national recognition of Royal, Florida, as a historic community. The petition was filed by Young Performing Artists, Inc. (YPAs), backing the Florida State Historic Preservation Officer’s (FL SHPO) nomination of Royal as the state’s first rural historic district to be listed on the Register.
The SPLC and YPAs have raised concerns regarding the FL SHPO's handling of Royal's nomination. They claim that historically African American-owned parcels were unjustly excluded from the proposed boundaries. As a result, "the Keeper agreed and returned the nomination to the FL SHPO to better document its boundaries."
Beverly Steele, founder of YPAs, emphasized the importance of correctly recognizing Royal's historic boundaries: “This is about the justice of having Royal’s historic boundaries nationally recognized and correctly recorded to acknowledge how hard our ancestors fought to keep this land.” She highlighted Royal as "a testament to survival," contrasting it with other lost Black communities like Rosewood and Santos.
YPAs argued in their petition that "the state arbitrarily redrew the proposed boundaries to exclude properties that otherwise fit within the historical boundaries of Royal." Kirsten Anderson from SPLC welcomed the Keeper's decision: “We are pleased that the Keeper has returned the nomination back to the state of Florida.”
Furthermore, YPAs asserted that FL SHPO should have acknowledged not just local and state significance but also Royal’s national importance. While returning the nomination, "the Keeper did not rule out Royal’s eligibility for national significance."
Steele stressed her commitment to preserving Royal's heritage: “Our elders made certain that everyone benefited through the land,” she said. “It is important that I do my part to preserve and protect...and that includes national acknowledgement of Royal’s place in American history.”