Alabama state

p> EDUCATION

Alabama is proud of its natural resources and its industrial development in recent years. State and community leaders also recognize the importance of developing its educational and cultural institutions.

Schools and Colleges
The first teachers in Alabama were probably French and Spanish priests who gave instruction to the Indians. In 1799 a New England cotton merchant,
John Pierce, opened a school for the children of wealthy settlers in the
Mobile Bay area. It was the kind of pioneer school known as a blab .school because the pupils studied by repeating their lessons aloud.
When Alabama became a state in 1819, an attempt was made to establish a system of public schools. The attempt failed, as did others in later years, largely because of a lack of money. Private schools sprang up to educate the children of parents who could afford to pay. It was not until after the
Civil War that the state was able to make progress toward establishing its present system of public elementary schools, high schools, and colleges.
Alabama has more than 50 institutions of higher education. About half of these are 2-year institutions, mainly state-supported junior or community colleges. The others are universities and senior colleges.
The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa (post office address, University) is Alabama's oldest college. It was established by the legislature in 1820.
Other state-supported universities are located at Auburn, Birmingham,
Florence, Huntsville, Jacksonville, Livingston, Mobile, Montcvallo,
Montgomery, Normal, and Troy. Tuskegcc Institute, the famous school established by Booker T. Washington in 1881, is partly supported by the state.

Libraries
Throughout the state there are many pub lic and private libraries. The largest public libraries are in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile. The
Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, on the campus of the University of Alabama, is one of the largest libraries in the entire South.

Fine Arts and Museums
Most high schools and junior high schools in the state have bands or orchestras. The Birmingham Civic Symphony gives annual concerts in the city. It also tours the state.
Before the Civil War, architecture was one of the most important fine arts. Some of the beautiful homes that were built before the war may be seen in the older cities, such as Selma, Huntsville, Eufaula, Greensboro,
Mobile, Tuscaloosa, and Montgomery.
The Art Museum at Birmingham and the Museum of Fine Arts at Montgomery have large collections of paintings. The following arc among the other noted museums:
The Alabama Museum of Natural History, at the University of Alabama, has an excellent display of rocks and minerals.
Mound State Monument, a state park and museum at Moundville, near
Tuscaloosa, preserves ancient mounds that Indians built for their temples, council" houses, and burial places. Relics from the grounds in the park, such as skeletons, tools, ornaments, and pottery, are displayed in the museum.
The Regar Museum of Natural History, at Anniston, contains an unusual display of 900 specimens of birds, with nests and eggs.

PLACES OF INTEREST
Some of the many other interesting places have been made by people. Some, such as mountains, forests, and white sand beaches, arc nature's own work.

Historic Places
Many historic treasures are preserved in Alabama's museums. The following are a few of the historic places in various parts of the state:

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, on the Tallapoosa River, marks the site of General Andrew Jackson's victory over the Creek Indians.

The Natchez Trace Parkway crosses the northwestern corner of Alabama. It extends from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee. The parkway commemorates a famous Indian trail and pioneer highway.

Russell Cave National Monument, at Bridgeport in northeast Alabama, was established in 1961. In the cave, scientists have found records of almost continuous human habitation from at least 6000 b.c. to about a.d. 1650.
Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site includes Tuskegee Institute, the
George Washington Carver Museum, and Booker T. Washington's home. The museum includes displays of African art and George Washington Carver's agricultural experiments.
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, at Mobile, stands on land that the first settlers used as a burying ground.
The State Capitol, Montgomery, is a stately building, similar in appearance to the National Capitol. For the first few months of the Civil
War, it served as the capitol of the Confederacy.
Jefferson Davis' Home, in Montgomery, is known as the first White House of the Confederacy because it was here that President Davis lived when
Montgomery was the Confederate capital.

Parks and Forests

Alabama has four national forests. The Talladega National Forest has two sections, one in the central part of the state and the other in the east.
The William B. Bankhead National Forest, formerly the Black Warrior
National Forest, is in the northwest. The Tuskegee, smallest of the national forests, is in the east, and the Conecuh is in the south.
State parks and forests total about 30. They are planned to conserve the natural beauty of the state and to provide places where people may go for outdoor recreation—picnicking, camping, hiking and nature study, fishing and other water sports.

Other Attractions
The following are among other places that attract visitors from all over the nation and the world:

Ave Maria Grotto, at St. Bernard, near Cull-man, displays more than 100 small reproductions of famous religious buildings of the world.
The Azalea Trail, in Mobile, is a 55-kilometer (35-mile) trail of flowers that leads through residential parts of the city, past historic homes and buildings.
Bellingrath Gardens and Home, south of Mobile, is a beautifully
"landscaped estate. Here the finest flowers, shrubs, and trees have been brought together in a setting of great natural beauty. The home is noted for its rich furnishings and priceless art objects.
Cathedral Caverns, north ofGuntersville, contains a large forest of stalagmites and one cavern 27 meters (90 feet) deep.
Ivy Green, in Tuscumbia, is Helen Keller's birthplace and childhood home.
Vulcan Statue, at the summit of Red Mountain, Birmingham, is a statue of the god of fire. It was made of iron from the local area and is said to be one of the largest statues in the world.
Annual Events

Many of Alabama's annual events center upon sports, the products of the state, and the interests and traditions of the people. From the early
French settlers. Mobile inherited the celebration of Mardi Gras. Mobile's
Mardi Gras festival is the oldest such celebration in the United States. It begins on the Friday before the first day of Lent and reaches its high point on the night of Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.

Mobile celebrates the azalea season from late February to early April, when thousands of visitors tour the Azalea Trail. The Deep-Sea Fishing
Rodeo, at Mobile and Dauphin Island, climaxes the fishing season, usually late in July or early in August.

Other events include the state fair at Birmingham, in September, and the
River Boat Regatta at Guntersville, in August.

CITIES
No one region claims all or most of the cities. Large cities are found in each part of the state—central, north and south.

Montgomery

Besides being the capital, Montgomery is a center of agricultural trade and the leading cattle market of southeastern United States. The large ranches and herds of cattle in the area remind one of Texas. Industries of the city include textile mills, meat-packing plants, and furniture factories.

Montgomery has several institutions of higher education, including
Alabama State University, campuses of Troy State and Auburn universities, and Huntingdon College, a private senior college. The Air University at
Maxwell Air Force Base is a national center for research and for education and training of U.S. Air Force personnel.

Birmingham
Alabama's largest city is located at the southern end of the Ridge and
Valley Region. It is sometimes called the Magic City because of its rapid growth. Since it was founded in 1871 as the town of Ely ton, it has grown into a metropolitan area of about 850,000 people. It is the South's only major producer of iron and steel. The hundreds of other industries in the area manufacture such items as cast-iron pipe, heavy machinery, chemicals, textiles, and wood and paper products.
Birmingham is a leading educational and cultural center. It is also noted for mountain scenery and places of outdoor recreation.

Mobile
The second-largest city and only seaport is known as Alabama's Gateway to the World. It was founded by the French and was named for the Mobile
Indians, who lived in the area. Today it is a busy industrial center with chemical plants, shipyards, and seafood industries. It is also a gracious and beautiful resort city, known for its flowers and ancient oak trees draped with Spanish moss.
Other Cities
The following are some of the other important cities:

Huntsville, now the Rocket City, was one of Alabama's first settlements.
It remained a small farming community for more than 125 years. Its population was only 16,000 in 1950. About that time the Army began to develop a rocket and guided-missile center at the Redstone Arsenal at
Huntsville. Thousands of scientists and other workers came to the area. So did dozens of new industries. Within 20 years Huntsville's population increased to more than 135,000. In 1960 a part of the arsenal was transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This part was named the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center.
Tuscaloosa, the home of the University of Alabama, is located on the
Black Warrior River at the edge of the Appalachian Plateau. Its name comes from the Indian words tuska, meaning "black," and lusa, meaning "warrior."
The city's many industries include a large paper mill, a rubber-tire plant, textile mills, oil refineries, and plants that make metal products.
Gailstleii, northeast of Birmingham, is an important iron and steel center, as well as a distribution point for livestock and grain produced in the surrounding area.
Duthan, leading city of southeastern Alabama, is located in a rich farming area. The main crop is peanuts. Industries in the city manufacture such products as peanut oil, hosiery, and cigars.

GOVERNMENT

The legislative department of the state government is made up of the
Senate and the House of Representatives. The members of both bodies serve 4- year terms. An amendment to the state constitution, adopted in 1975, provided for annual legislative sessions, beginning in 1976. Before that, regular sessions had been held every other year.

The chief executive is the governor, who is elected by the people. The people also elect a lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, auditor, and commissioner of agriculture and industry, as well as the members of the state board of education.

The highest state court is the supreme court. It consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices elected statewide for 6-year terms.
The court of appeals is divided into two courts, one to hear civil appeals and one to hear criminal appeals. The major trial courts in Alabama are its numerous circuit courts.

GOVERNMENT
Capital—Montgomery. Number of counties—67. Representation in Congress—U.S. senators, 2; U.S. representatives, 7. State Legislature—Senate, 35 members; House of Representatives, 105 members; all 4-year terms. Governor—4-year term. Elections— Primary elections to select candidates, first Tuesday in May; general and state elections,
Tuesday after first Monday in November

The state is divided into 67 counties. Each county is governed by a board of commissioners, known as the county commission.

FAMOUS PEOPLE
Alabama claims many persons who did important work in government, education, the law, military affairs, business, and the arts. The following are some of the honored names:
William Wyatt Bibb (1781-1820) was Alabama's only territorial governor and the first governor of the state. He was born in Georgia.
Josiah Gorgas (1818-83), born in Pennsylvania, was a teacher and an army officer. He became an Alabamian after his marriage to Amelia Gayle, daughter of John Gayle, governor of Alabama from 1831 to 1835. During the
Civil War, Josiah Gorgas was chief of military supplies, and eventually a brigadier general, in the Confederate Army. Later he served for a year as president of the University of Alabama. His son, William C. Gorgas (1854-
1920), who was born near Mobile, is world famous as the U.S. Army surgeon and sanitation expert who stamped out yellow fever in the Canal Zone and made possible the building of the Panama Canal.
Julia Strudwick Tufwiler (1841-1916) was born in Greene County. She established several girls' vocational schools and secured admission of women to the University of Alabama. She was also active in prison reform.
She wrote the words of "Alabama," the state song.
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) is known throughout the world as the founder of Tuskegec Institute and as an educator, author, and lecturer. He was born in Virginia and was educated at Hampton Institute. His biography is included in Volume W.
George Washington Carver (1864-1943), botanist and agricultural scientist, gained international fame for his work in agricultural research at Tuskegee
Institute. He taught improvement of the soil and developed hundreds of products from the peanut, sweet potato, and soybean. A biography of George
Washington Carver, who was born in Missouri and educated in Iowa, is included in Volume C.
William Brockman Bankhead (1874-1940) was born in Moscow (now Sulligent),
Alabama. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1917 to 1940.
He was speaker of the House from 1936 to 1940. His daughter, Tallulah
Brockman Bankhead, became one of America's best-known actresses. His father, John H. Bank-head, and his brother, John H. Bankhead, Jr., were both U.S. senators.
Helen Adams Keller, who was born in Tus-cumbia in 1880, lost both sight and hearing before she was 2 years old. Because she could not hear, she also lost the ability to speak. In spite of her disabilities, she gained an education, learned to speak, and then spent her life lecturing and writing to raise money for the training of other disabled persons. Her biography is included in Volume K.
George Corley Wallace (1919- ) was born in Clio, Alabama. He was a judge and state legislator before his election in 1962 as governor of Alabama. He was re-elected to that office in 1970, 1974, and 1982. He was also a presidential candidate in 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1976. A bullet from an assassination attempt during the 1972 campaign left him disabled.

Three Alabamians have become justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices
John McKinley and John A. Campbell, who served during the I 800's, were born in other states. Hugo L. Black, who became a justice in 1937, was born in Clay County, Alabama.
Writers, musicians, and entertainers who were born in Alabama include novelists Nelle Harper Lee (Monroeville) and Bordcn Deal(Tuscaloosa), composer William C. Handy (Florence), and singer Nat "King" Cole
(Montgomery).
Famous names in sports include heavyweight champion Joe Louis (born Joe
Louis Barrow, Lafayette); baseball players Henry "Hank" Aaron (Mobile),
Frank Lary (North-port), and Willie Mays (Fairfield); and sports announcer
Mel Alien (born Melvin Alien Israel, Birmingham).

HISTORY

At the time of Columbus, Alabama was inhabited by four main groups of
Indians. They were the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws.
Sometimes there were skirmishes resulting from border disputes. But usually the Indians lived in peace, hunting, fishing, and raising corn and vegetables on small plots of land.

Exploration and Settlement

During the early 1500's Spanish explorers sailed along the coast of the
Gulf of Mexico. But Europeans were not seen in the interior of Alabama until 1540, when Hernando de Soto passed through with a band of well-armed soldiers. De Soto forced the peaceful Indians to provide him with food and servants, and his harsh methods stirred up resentment. When he reached the land governed by the gigantic Choctaw chieftain, Tuskaloosa, he ran into trouble. De Soto captured the chief and took him to the tribe's strongly fortified village. Here the Indians rose up to free their chief. For many hours the bloody battle raged. The Spanish soldiers slaughtered Indian men, women, and children alike. When the battle was over, the village was in ruins and its population was destroyed. De Soto's troops also suffered heavy losses. Later, in 1559, Spanish colonists started a settlement on
Mobile Bay, but storms and other troubles caused the settlers to leave.

English traders from the Carolinas and Georgia traded with the Indians during the late 1600's, but the English made no permanent settlements in
Alabama at that time. In 1702 the French established Fort Louis on Mobile
Bay. This settlement was moved, in 1711, to the present site of Mobile. It became the first permanent white settlement in what is now Alabama.

During the 1700's the French and the British fought over the territory of which Alabama was a part. After the French and Indian War, the Treaty of Paris, in 1763, gave the territory to England. Spain, Georgia, and the
Carolinas still argued over who owned the land. It was not until 1813 that all of what is now Alabama passed into undisputed possession of the United
States and became part of the Mississippi Territory.

After 1800 more and more settlers came into Alabama from the states on the Atlantic Coast. The invention of the cotton gin and the growth of the cotton textile industry in England made cotton a valuable crop. The settlers grew cotton on most of the land that they cleared. But settling the territory was not without its perils. Much of the good farmland was already being used by the Indians, whose ways of living easily adapted to the settlers' ways. The Indians resisted the theft of their lands. The
Creeks, who held more than half the land in the

territory,were especially bitter. They sided with the British in the War of 1812. The
Indians raided Fort Mims and killed several hundred settlers. In a final battle at Horseshoe Bend, the Creeks were defeated, and before long they were moved out of the territory. The Cherokees, who had remained neutral in the war, were later moved from their lands. They were the most progressive of the Indian tribes. They lived in brick houses, grew cotton, raised rattle, and even had a written language.

Alabama Becomes a State
When Mississippi became a state in 1817, the eastern half of the
Mississippi Territory was removed and made the Alabama Territory. Its capital was St. Stephens, a small town lo the north of Mobile. At that time settlers were found mainly in three regions—in the Tennessee Valley, around
Huntsville; along Ihc Tombigbee and Black Warrior rivers, with centers at
St. Stephens and Tusca-loosa; and along the Alabama and Coosa rivers, near such towns as Wetumpka and Montgomery.
Alabama was not a territory very long. With the approval of Congress, leading citi-/cns met at Huntsville on July 5, 1819, and drafted Alabama's first constitution. Soon after, on December 14, 1819, Alabama became a state. The capital was situated at Ca-haba, a town built for just this purpose at the junction of the Cahaba and the Alabama rivers. The choice of this town was bad. It lay in low, swampy land that flooded regularly. In
1825 the session of the legislature could be held only on the second floor of the capital, and the legislators had to get there by row-boat. Because of this situation the state capital was moved in 1827 to Tuscaloosa, where it stayed for 20 years. In 1847 the increase in wealth and political strength of the cotton planters of the Black Belt caused another move of the state capital—this time to Montgomery, where it is today.

King Cotton, Slavery, and the Civil War
Between 1820 and 1860 Alabama's economy was closely tied to slavery. The large cotton plantations could not be worked profitably without slaves. In the 1840's Alabama was one of the wealthiest states in the Union. In 1860 forces in the North moved toward the abolition of slavery. The leaders of Alabama opposed federal interference in the affairs of their state. They proposed secession. After a special election among the people, a convention was held in Montgomery on
January 7, 1861. On January 11 a resolution of secession was adopted, and
Alabama invited all the other southern states to meet in Montgomery to form a new union.
On February 4, 1861, the convention met and drew up the constitution for the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the president on February 18, 1861.
During the Civil War there were many minor battles in the state. No major battles took place within its borders, but the state was badly hurt by the fighting. When the war was over, Alabama's economy was destroyed.
Between 1865 and 1875 Alabama lived under a partly military government called the Reconstruction. These were harsh times— times of agricultural failures, general poverty, and great political confusion. In 1875 a new constitution was adopted and approved by Congress. Between 1875 and 1900
Alabama went through a period of economic recovery. Cotton was still king, but industry grew.

Modern Times and the Future

After the Reconstruction era, blacks in Alabama were stripped of their newly won civil rights, including the right to vote. They had to attend different schools from whites. Racial segregation of many kinds was the law in Alabama for a long time.

In the 1960's, however, federal legislation enabled blacks in Alabama to vote in large numbers. Progress has also been made against many forms of racial segregation. Much of this progress in Alabama resulted from peaceful protest conducted under the leadership of Martin Luther King.
Alabama has undergone many other. changes recently. Industry has grown rapidly. The state's waterways are being enlarged and improved. With its abundance of raw mate-trials, and its vital people, Alabama should continue to be the industrial heart of the New South.

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Alabama state

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