Other citations speak to the sometimes deadly legacies of government action. The citation for Wyandotte National Burying Ground in Kansas City, Kan., describes it as “tangible evidence of the consequences of federal American Indian removal policy to a tribal population and its identity.” The citation for the Kent State site, where the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four students and wounded nine other people during a protest against the Vietnam War, refers to subsequent rulings by the Supreme Court that “the executive branch of government does not enjoy absolute immunity for its actions.”

A number of the sites are recognized for what may seem to be more straightforward significance as architecture or engineering, like the Neutra Studio and Residences in Los Angeles (associated with the modernist Richard Neutra), and the Davis-Ferris Organ, at a Methodist camp in Round Lake, N.Y. The instrument is cited as “an example of the technical and mechanical achievements in the pre-Civil War American organ-building industry.”

But even the designations for some seemingly straightforward sites might be seen as resonant with contemporary politics. The New York State Barge Canal, begun in 1905, is called “an embodiment of a Progressive Era emphasis on public works,” which was “built explicitly to counter the growing monopoly of railroad corporations.”

Kevin Young, the director of the Schomburg Center, a division of the New York Public Library in Harlem, said in an email that he was “especially pleased” that the announcement had noted the center’s social mission of promoting “intellectual freedom and social equality.” He also noted the reference to the Afro-Latino roots of its namesake, the self-taught immigrant bibliophile Arturo Schomburg.

“Our focus on the entire African Diaspora has been important ever since our start 92 years ago,” said Mr. Young, who took over leadership at the center in December. “I am looking forward personally to exploring the Afro-Latino connection, both in our collections and lively programming.”