Transcript alabama history

ALABAMA
HISTORY
Compiled by: Ms. Finey
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The Flag
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The Flag of the State of Alabama
was adopted by Act 383 of the
Alabama state legislature on
February 16, 1895.
“The flag of the State of Alabama
shall be a crimson cross of St.
Andrew on a field of white. The
bars forming the cross shall be
not less than six inches broad,
and must extend diagonally
across the flag from side to side."
The cross of St. Andrew
referenced in the law is a diagonal
cross, known in vexillology as a
saltire. Because the bars must be
at least six inches (15.24 cm)
wide, small representations of the
Alabama flag do not meet the
legal definition.
How Alabama Became a State
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Before Alabama became a state, the Chickasaw, Choctaw,
Creek, Koasati, and Mobile Native American tribes lived here.
The Spanish explorers were the first European people to arrive in
Alabama, and they called the whole region La Florida.
The first explorer who documented his trip to Alabama was
Hernando de Soto in 1539.
The French later colonized the area in 1702. They set up Fort
Louis on Mobile River, which is where the present-day city of
Mobile was founded.
In 1763, the French and Indian War ended, with the Treaty of
Paris, this meant that the French no longer occupied Alabama.
In 1798, Congress organized the region and named it the
Mississippi Territory.
In 1817, the Mississippi Territory was divided with the west side
becoming Mississippi and the east side becoming Alabama
Territory.
Happy Birthday Alabama!
• Alabama celebrates it’s birthday in 1819,
when it officially became a state!
• It was the 22nd state admitted into the Union.
• It’s constitution primarily appealed to the
rights of white men only.
• William Wyatt Bibb was the first governor of
Alabama. He was the governor of Alabama
Territory from August 1817-December 1819
before Alabama even became a state! Then,
when Alabama finally became a state, he was
the first official governor from December
1819 until his death on July 10, 1820.
Locations and Dates of Alabama’s Capitals
Date
Location
1817
St. Stephens
1819
Huntsville
1820
Cahaba
1826
Tuscaloosa
1846
Montgomery
The Five Geographic
Regions of Alabama
•Highland Rim-In the northwestern corner of
Alabama is the Highland Rim or Low Interior
Plateau. A lot of this land is in the Tennessee
River valley and farms grow corn, cotton, and
hay in this area.
•Cumberland Plateau-Sometimes called the
Appalachian Plateau, the Cumberland Plateau
lies to the northwest of the Appalachian Ridge
and Valley region. The rolling terrain and flat
areas rises to 1,800 feet above sea level in the
northeast and slopes southwest down to about
500 feet above sea level to meet the East Gulf
Coastal Plain.
•Alabama Valley and Ridge-Northwest of the
Piedmont lies the Appalachian Ridge and Valley
region of Alabama. This region is comprised of
sandstone ridges and fertile limestone valleys.
The three ingredients for steel manufacture,
coal, iron ore, and limestone are found in
abundance in this area.
The Five Geographic
Regions of Alabama
•Piedmont Upland-The Piedmont is located in the
eastern central section of Alabama and consists of low
hills, ridges, and sandy valleys. Coal, iron ore, limestone,
and marble are found in this area of Alabama along with
Cheaha Mountain, Alabama's highest point.
•East Gulf Coastal Plain-
The East Gulf Coastal
Plain covers the southern two thirds of the state, except
for the Prairie Black Belt. On the western side of the state
the East Gulf Coastal Plain runs north almost to the
Tennessee border.
The East Gulf Coastal Plain itself has different landscapes.
In the southwest around Mobile, the land is low and
swampy. The southeast plain is called the wiregrass
section because of the tough grass that once grew there
among the pine forests. Now, the southeastern section has
become an important farming area in the state. To the
north, the terrain becomes hilly and is covered by many
pine forests. This area is often called the Central Pine Belt.
The Black Belt Prairie cuts a path between the southern
and northern East Coastal Plain. The Black Belt Prairie was
the home of many of Alabama's large plantations. The soil
in this swath of rolling hills is black and sticky and
supported acres and acres of cotton crop until the boll
weevils visit in 1915.
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Rivers and Interstates of Alabama
Civil Rights Movement
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On December 1,
1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress,
was arrested for refusing to obey a
Montgomery bus driver's order to give
her seat up for a boarding white
passenger as required by city ordinance.
City and state laws were designed to
separate the races in the South at the
time. These segregation codes were
extremely unfair to African Americans.
Montgomery's black community was
outraged over the arrest of Rosa Parks,
which sparked a boycott against the city's
bus line -- the Montgomery Bus Boycott,
the beginning of the modern Civil Rights
Movement.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Working closely with a long-active
African-American leader who was in
Montgomery, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ,
who emerged as the president of the
Montgomery Improvement Association
(MIA) which organized the boycott. As
the MIA demanded equal bus seating
and other city services, racial tensions
began to increase during the standoff.
Dr. King preached and urged protesters
to not be violent.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott ended in
December 1956, over a year after it
began, when the U.S. Supreme Court
ordered the desegregation of buses in
Montgomery.
Civil Rights Movement
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By April of 1963, Birmingham, Alabama had become a national example of
racial tension and strife. In the spring of 1962, city parks and public golf
courses had been closed to prevent desegregation (letting all races be
together). The black community had attempted to protest racial activities by
boycotting selected Birmingham merchants. In response, food that was
given to needy families had been cut by the city commissioners.
City elections and demonstrations against segregation further separated
the city racially for a year and made everyone both angry and afraid. On
April 12, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was sentenced to a nine-day jail term
for his part in desegregation demonstrations. During this time Dr. King
wrote his essay, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," which described his
concerns for the laws of America and his hope for justice for black
Americans.
Firemen used powerful water hoses and policemen used German
shepherd police dogs against protestors in May of 1963, as directed by
police commissioner Eugene ("Bull") Connor. Despite the peaceful efforts
of both the black and white leaders of the city, terror and violence had
gripped Birmingham, Alabama while the world watched.
Civil Rights Movement
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Despite federal court rulings designed to open the voting polls to African
Americans in the 1960s, black Alabamians in huge numbers were not
registered to vote because whites feared losing political control. Selma, in the
heart of the “Black Belt of Alabama”, became a focus for black voter registration
drives in the early 1960s and, in 1965, was chosen by African American Civil
Rights leaders as the site from which to launch a march on Montgomery, the
state capital.
The march of a few hundred protesters began on March 7, 1965. Governor
George Wallace ordered local and state law enforcement personnel to block
the march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge that crossed over the Alabama River
on the way out of Selma. Uniformed law officers attacked peaceful protestors
as all of America watched. It was named "Bloody Sunday" on the nightly news.
The "Selma to Montgomery March" was started again on March 21, with the
more marchers from across the U.S. joined, including Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. who had been involved in the Selma protests since January but had not
been there on "Bloody Sunday." Some 3,200 marchers left Selma on March
21st and as many as 25,000 took part in the final stretch up Montgomery's
Dexter Avenue to the state Capitol four days later. It was quite a march!
References
Resources used to compile information in the PowerPoint:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Alabama
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Alabama#Indigenous_peoples.2C_early_histo
ry
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks
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http://geology.com/cities-map/alabama.shtml
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http://geology.com/states/alabama.shtml
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http://www.archives.alabama.gov/capital/capitals.html
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http://www.holidays.net/mlk/rosa.htm
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http://www.netstate.com/states/geography/al_geography.htm
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http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/montbus.html