In one of his last acts as president, Barack Obama on Thursday signed a proclamation designating the Birmingham Civil Rights District as a national monument.

The designation is expected to have a significant economic impact on the Magic City and bring a national spotlight to the pivotal role Birmingham played in the struggle for racial equality in the 1960s.

According to the National Park Service, every dollar invested in national parks or monuments generates $10 in economic activity.

"This is a transformative designation for the city of Birmingham," Birmingham Mayor William Bell said. "To have our story not only recognized, but secured for generations to come will change the way we are able to go after federal funding, improve our neighborhoods and continue to acknowledge the contribution of Birmingham, the city that broke the back of segregation and changed the world."

Bell, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, National Parks Conservation Association and others have campaigned for the Birmingham Civil Rights District's inclusion in the national park system for a number of months.

How the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument will be managed in partnership with the city of Birmingham has yet to be determined, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said in an October visit to Magic City. The planning could take months, if not years, and will involve a series of community meetings.

Bell said the National Park Service has committed to contributing at least $300,000 annually to the monument.

The national monument will include portions of the Historic Birmingham Civil Rights District, including the A.G. Gaston Motel, the neighboring Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the 16th Street Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, the Colored Masonic Temple, St. Paul United Methodist Church and portions of the 4th Avenue Business District.

Obama also signed a proclamation designating the Freedom Riders Park in Anniston a national monument.

The monument includes the Greyhound Bus Station where a racially integrated bus of Freedom Riders attempting to test desegregation was attacked in the spring of 1961, and the site where the same bus was firebombed and burned some minutes later.

Obama's declarations are possible under the Antiquities Act of 1906. Historic landmarks declared by public proclamation are called national monuments.

Established in 1906, the Antiquities Act has been used by 16 presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Obama.

Sewell also introduced legislation in March 2016 to create a Birmingham Civil Rights National Historical Park in an effort to secure bipartisan support for the designation. That bill stalled in committee.

"Today, Birmingham takes its rightful place as the epicenter of the fight for Civil Rights in America," Sewell said in a written statement. "President Obama in signing the executive order creates a national monument that incorporates the sites of Birmingham's Civil Rights District into the National Park System ensuring its preservation for future generations. It is such a great tribute to the people of the city of Birmingham that President Obama would make this designation as one of his last actions before leaving the White House."

Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of National Parks Conservation Association issued this statement:

"The events in Birmingham opened our eyes to the plight of so many African Americans facing discrimination in the South, and ultimately led to the abolition of segregation laws. Places like the 16th Street Baptist Church and Kelly Ingram Park were pivotal in the struggle for civil rights, and are truly deserving of national park status. These important places should be protected and their stories told. And no group is better suited to do this than the National Park Service."

Brent Leggs, senior field officer for preservation division for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said national parks and national monuments are created through different means, but they are treated the same by the National Park Service.

The Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument is in the same national park system as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone.

On Jan. 9, Birmingham Mayor William Bell conveyed a portion of the A.G. Gaston Motel to the United States making the property federal lands. This was required for the national monument designation.

Properties in the footprint of the National Park Service maintain their autonomy and normal, everyday function but get the benefit of technical assistance, maintenance assistance, marketing a programming assistance and park rangers, according to the mayor's office.

Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis visited Birmingham on Oct. 27, 2016 to tour historic sites connected with the civil rights movement. Dozens of city leaders and residents shared their support for a national park during a public meeting that evening at 16th Street Baptist Church.

The national park will likely center around the A.G. Gaston Motel, which Birmingham Mayor William Bell called the motel "ground zero" for the civil rights movement in 1963.

Activists in Birmingham launched Project C, also known as The Birmingham Campaign, in the spring of 1963. The campaign -- designed to end segregation through mass protests, marches and sit-ins -- and the violence it sparked became a major turning pointed in the civil rights movement.

The Gaston Motel, which was built by black entrepreneur A.G. Gaston in 1954, was the headquarters for the campaign and for Martin Luther King when he was in Birmingham. Room 30 was a second floor suite known as the "war room." King held press conferences at the motel, wrote parts of the "I Have a Dream" speech and planned the march on Washington.

The peaceful demonstrations were met with attacks by high-pressure fire hoses and police dogs. More than 900 children were arrested during a mass protest in Kelly Ingram Park on May 3, 1963.

Violent attacks continued, though, including the Sept. 15 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise McNair. Another 22 people were injured.

During his October visit, Jarvis said he is particularly interested in the Gaston Motel. "This is a great piece of the (Civil Rights) story that is not well told," he said.