Alabama: The Heart of Dixie

Alabama: The Heart of Dixie — page 1 — INTRODUCTION Alabama is a state of fascinating places and friendly people The landscape offers a beautiful mix of expansive forests sandy coastal plains and bountiful farmlands The land has always played an important role in Alabama’s economy The state once depended primarily upon the cotton industry but over the years agriculture has expanded into other areas Today Alabama produces a wide variety of crops such as soybeans peanuts and melons Industry plays an important role as well Alabama’s abundance of natural resources provides the state with many economic opportunities The ground yields valuable minerals while the rivers provide important transportation routes and can be harnessed to produce hydroelectricity The Jasmine Hill garden and outdoor museum was created in the 1920s as a tribute to classical Greek art and culture It was closed to the public in 2002 4 ALABAMA Alabama’s beautiful Mobile-Tensaw Delta is home to more than 50 rare and endangered plants and animals Although Alabama has no official nickname it is commonly referred to as the Heart of Dixie It is also sometimes referred to as the Yellowhammer State which comes from the uniforms worn by Alabama soldiers during the American Civil War The uniforms had yellow trim that resembled the yellow patches on the wings of the yellowhammer bird Other Alabama nicknames include the Cotton State the Cotton Plantation State and the Camellia State Alabama’s motto since 1939 has been We Dare Maintain Our Rights

Alabama: The Heart of Dixie — page 2 — INTRODUCTION 5 Alabama is located in the southeastern United States also known as the Deep South It is bordered by Tennessee to the north Georgia to the east Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south and Mississippi to the west The Gulf Coast stretches along the Gulf of Mexico The Birmingham International Airport is the busiest in the state Other large airports can be found in Huntsville Mobile and Montgomery Amtrak offers train travel through several Alabama cities while Greyhound provides bus service across the state Three interstate highways pass through Birmingham I-20 I-59 and I-65 Highway I-10 runs through Mobile along the southern edge of the state About 93,000 miles of highway cover the state Alabama Location Map Capital Montgomery Interstate highways 0 0 30 48 60 96 Mi Km Scale Population 4,447,100 Size 51,718 square miles Highest peak Cheaha Mountain 2,407 feet The Birmingham International Airport handled about three million passengers in 2000 Alabama’s state flag was adopted in 1895 It consists of a crimson cross of St Andrew on a white background The flag of the Confederate States of America was designed in Alabama in 1861 The city of Mobile on the Gulf Coast is one of the most important seaports in the United States Mobile is located on the Intracoastal Waterway a 3,000-mile shipping route that connects the Southern states with states along the East Coast When Birmingham’s airport opened in 1931 it took 19 hours to fly from Birmingham to Los Angeles Modern jet travel has cut that flight time substantially

Alabama: The Heart of Dixie — page 3 — 6 ALABAMA During the American Civil War Alabama rebelled against the United States of America and took up arms with the Confederate States of America Alabama was the 22nd state to join the Union on Dec 14 1819 Alabama seceded from the Union on Jan 11 1861 It was the fourth state to join the Confederacy In 1868 three years after the United States won the American Civil War Alabama rejoined the Union Alabama’s coat of arms was adopted in 1939 In the center two bald eagles support a shield which displays the flags of all five nations that have ruled Alabama Throughout its history Alabama has been the site of many conflicts In the state’s early years Europeans and Native Americans fought for control of the region Later on European countries clashed with each other in their attempt to gain ownership over Alabama Five national governments have ruled the state Spain France Great Britain the Confederate States of America and the United States of America In the early 1800s the United States began to divide over the issue of slavery and Alabama was a slave state Africans who were enslaved provided labor for Alabama’s thriving cotton industry In the mid-1800s the United States the Union was heading toward a conflict between the North and the South In 1861 Alabama voted to secede from the Union rather than abolish slavery During the American Civil War Alabama played a crucial role in the development of the Confederate States of America Montgomery known as the Cradle of the Confederacy hosted the first meeting of the seceding states and became the first capital of the Confederacy The First White House of the Confederacy was located in Montgomery It served as the home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from Feb 4 1861 to May 21 1861 The Confederate capital was later moved to Richmond Va

Alabama: The Heart of Dixie — page 4 — INTRODUCTION 7 Though the Civil War brought slavery to an end black Americans continued to suffer from discrimination In the mid-20th century the civil rights movement in Alabama gained strength as African Americans struggled for freedom and equality In 1955 Rosa Parks caused a sensation when she refused to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery At the time it was required by law that African Americans give up their seats to white people When she was arrested a local activist minister Martin Luther King Jr led a boycott of Montgomery buses For more than a year African Americans and others refused in protest to use the city transit system The Montgomery boycott concluded when the United States Supreme Court decided that bus segregation was unconstitutional The boycott established Martin Luther King Jr as a national hero and defender of civil rights Over the following decades desegregation and the election of African Americans to public office helped to improve race relations in Alabama In 1965 Martin Luther King Jr led a march from Selma to Montgomery It was a nonviolent protest against the many voting restrictions placed upon African Americans Rosa Parks’s refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus in 1955 sparked the Montgomery bus boycott The 16th Street Baptist Church was the location of a bombing that killed four African American girls on Sept 15 1963 The bomb was planted by members of the terrorist group the Ku Klux Klan which sought to establish white supremacy in the South Two of the bombers were not arrested until almost 40 years later Martin Luther King Jr was minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery The church served as a meeting place for participants in the Montgomery bus boycott

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