NASHVILLE (AP) — A fort built by freed slaves during the Civil War in Nashville has received an international designation for its significance to the history of slavery and African Americans.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has named Fort Negley a "Site of Memory," as part of its Slave Route Project.

After Union forces occupied Nashville in 1862, the Army forced more than 2,700 African-Americans to build the fort in miserable conditions. About 600 to 800 died.

Vanderbilt University history professor Jane Landers has helped lead the charge to recognize and preserve Fort Negley.

Developers dropped plans to build a housing and entertainment complex near the site after archaeologists found human remains are likely still buried there, possibly of the African-American laborers who were pressed into service to build it.