1940 - State population= 2,832,961: 1940 Federal Census - The Mississippian culture arose as the cultivation of Mesoamerican crops of corn and beans led to crop surpluses and population growth. [22], Until 1832, the Democratic-Republican Party was the only one in the state, descended from the time of Jefferson. Jimmy Buffet sang "Stars Fell on Alabama" at the January 1999 inauguration of Governor Don Alabama has a dynamic economy that has seen the automotive industry open large manufacturing plants from Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa County to Hyundai Motors in Montgomery County. Schweninger, Loren. "Were the Whigs a Class Party in Alabama? In a spectacle seen across the Southeast, a fantastic meteor shower causes this night to be known as "the night stars fell on Alabama." After Indian Removal forcibly displaced most Southeast tribes to west of the Mississippi River to what was then called Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), European-American arrived in large numbers, bringing or buying African Americans in the domestic slave trade.. The CSA set up its temporary capital in Montgomery and selected Jefferson Davis as president. restrictions on black Americans. About the same time the Whig party emerged as an opposition party. Tourism is a booming industry for the state of Alabama. By 1925, the Klan was a powerful political force in the state, as urban politicians such as J. Thomas Heflin, David Bibb Graves, and Hugo Black manipulated the KKK membership against the power of the "Big Mule" industrialists and especially the Black Belt planters who had long dominated the state.[50]. The media covered the series of peaceful marches that the Birmingham police, headed by Police Commissioner Bull Connor, attempted to divert and control. Autherine Lucy unsuccessfully attempts to desegregate the University of Alabama. [41] Prohibition was a favorite reform for Protestant churches across this entire country, and from the 1870s to the 1920s, Alabama passed a series of more restrictive laws that were demanded by the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and other reform elements. After losing the war, the slaves in Alabama were freed. 1990 - State population=4,040,587: 1990 Federal Census - Period: Jan 1, 1819 to Dec 31, 1865. Its population of 20,000 to 30,000 at its peak exceeded that of any of the later European cities in North America until 1800. Corn production in bushels=13,920,000. ", Fitzgerald, Michael W. "Reconstruction in Alabama", Fitzgerald, Michael W. "" To Give Our Votes to the Party": Black Political Agitation and Agricultural Change in Alabama, 1865–1870. After Indian Removal forcibly displaced most Southeast tribes to west of the Mississippi River to what was then called Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), European-American arrived in large numbers, bringing or buying African Americans in the domestic slave trade. State bonds were issued and public lands were sold to secure capital, and the notes of the banks, loaned on security, became a medium of exchange. For a half century after the Civil War, Alabama was a poor, heavily rural state, with an economy based on cotton; most farmers were tenant, sharecroppers or laborers who did not own land. Following service in World War II, many African-American veterans became activists for civil rights, wanting their rights under the law as citizens. Rousseau's Raid through north and east-central Alabama (, Wilson's Raid through north and central Alabama (, January 31 - Tallulah Bankhead, star of stage, screen, and radio in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, is born in Huntsville. The daughter of US Congressman TIMELINE INCLUDES AMERICAN HISTORY EVENTS. for the protestors. for president in 1976, marking his fourth consecutive run for that office. Moore rose to national attention earlier Alabama History in September. Great Britain came into undisputed control of the region between the Chattahoochee and the Mississippi rivers, in terms of other European powers. Alabama History in August. It was a conservative The overall population remained the same—the growth that might have been expected was neutralized by death and emigration.[28]. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed all enslaved people in Confederate states. Although a member of Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition of 1528 may have entered southern Alabama, the first fully documented visit was by explorer Hernando de Soto. 1900 - State population= 1,828,697: 1900 Federal Census - As the new administration was overall a failure, in 1872, voters re-elected Republicans. the antebellum South. Corn production in bushels=33,226,282; The state voted for Democrat Al Smith in 1928, although he was Roman Catholic (a target of the KKK), and the Klan's official membership plunged to under six thousand by 1930. Upon the election of Abraham Lincoln, Governor Andrew B. Moore, as previously instructed by the legislature, called a state convention. New state Constitution ratified, disfranchising substantial numbers of black and white voters (November). Governor George C. Wallace inaugurated for first of four terms in office. Alabama Capitals. By 1860 blacks (nearly all slaves) comprised 45 percent of the state's 964,201 people. Settlers rebuilt a fort on higher ground known as Fort Conde. Birmingham native Condoleeza Rice is appointed National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush. A state convention met in September of the same year, and declared the ordinance of secession null and void and slavery abolished. During the ensuing American Civil War Alabama had moderate levels of warfare. Alabama - Alabama - History: The present-day state of Alabama was originally inhabited by various indigenous peoples. 1950 - State population= 3,061,743: 1950 Federal Census - Washington's leadership would make Tuskegee one of the most 1810 - West Florida, from Pearl River to the Mississippi, annexed by US from Spain. The population suffered economic losses and hardships as a result of the war. Formal disenfranchisement was ended only after the mid-1960s after African Americans led the Civil Rights Movement and gaining Federal legislation to protect their voting and civil rights. Flowers Old Historical Atlas Maps of Alabama. About 15% of fatalities were from disease, more than the 10% from battle. Since the amount of money in circulation was not sufficient to meet the demands of the increasing population, a system of state banks was instituted. Since the turn of the 19th century, development of large cotton plantations had taken place across the upland Black Belt after the invention of the cotton gin made short-staple cotton profitable. The Whigs were joined by the remaining Democrats and called themselves the "Unionists". It also became the African-American population= 827,307; The assassination Most of the yeoman farmers owned few or no slaves. In the spring and summer of 1963, national attention became riveted on Birmingham. Urban population=3,194; is the first African American to win a gold medal in a winter Olympics. As a result, Republicans controlled 96 of the 100 seats in the state constitutional convention. Eliminating the inefficiencies of the tax collection system helped a bit. [54], As Birmingham was the center of industry and population in Alabama, in 1963 civil rights leaders chose to mount a campaign there for desegregation. Alabama gold rush, concentrated in east-central hill country. NAVIGATE BY CLICKING ON THE DATES ABOVE. Cotton production in bales= 718,163; The contemporary interests of urbanizing, industrial cities and tens of thousands of citizens were not adequately represented in the government. Charged with, among other responsibilities, "the care and custody of official archives [and] the collection of materials State population=4,447,100: 2000 Federal Census - Cotton production in bales= 683,491; when Europeans arrived in the 1500s. How to make a timeline? fled back into the city. [13], The early historic Muscogee are considered likely descendants of the Mississippian culture along the Tennessee River in modern Tennessee,[14] Georgia and Alabama. He led one of the most progressive administrations in the state's history, pushing for increased education funding, better public health, new highway construction, and pro-labor legislation. ", Moore, A. Alabama would remain a territory for over two years before becoming the 22nd state in Owens went on to Chemical and structural constraints limited the quality of steel produced from Alabama's iron and coal. "Social and Economic Forces in Alabama Reconstruction,", Dupre, Daniel. The legislature dictated "a crimson cross of St. Andrew State Emblems and Symbols. ... Alabama History Timeline created by alescobio. 1780 - Spanish capture Mobile during American Revolution and retain the West and East Floridas as part of war-ending treaty. Progressive reforms cost money, especially for the improved school system. "Railroad Building in Alabama During the Reconstruction Period,". Rogers, William Warren, Robert David Ward, Leah Rawls Atkins, And Wayne Flynt. The state's wealthy planters considered slavery essential to their economy. From 1861, the Union blockade shut Mobile, and, in 1864, the outer defenses of Mobile were taken by a Union fleet; the city itself held out until April 1865. Cherry is the last Jackson Well document that gave the Democrats, and especially Black Belt planters, a firm grip on their recently reacquired control of state government. Government Information: Alabama Governors. Corn production in bushels= 31,028,109; From 1910 to 1940, tens of thousands of African Americans migrated out of Alabama in the Great Migration to seek jobs, education for their children, and freedom from lynching in northern and midwestern cities, such as St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland. Still, by 1963, only about a third of the state's cotton was picked by machine. Before his November, 1963 assassination, President John F. Kennedy had supported civil rights legislation. African-American population=475,510; Boll Weevil, insect destroyer of cotton, enters state from Mississippi border. Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and uncertainty about agitation against slavery led the State Democratic convention of 1856 to revive the "Alabama Platform". Congressman Williamson R. W. Cobb was a Unionist and pleaded for compromise. In other parts of the state, the soil supported only subsistence farming. English, French, and Spanish settlers and settlers from South Carolina and Georgia established trading posts. ... Alabama History Timeline created by fenni5L. Our future neighbor, the International African American Museum, will provide an opportunity for … weevil statue was not added to the monument until 30 years later. As you go down this list, the farther back in time you travel. Well, it's easy ... Sign up; History of Alabama's capitals/capitols Timeline created by momspafford. It was the North American front of the Seven Years' War between these two nations in Europe. 1868 - Reconstruction Constitution ratified (February) gaining Alabama readmission to the Union, and allowing black suffrage for the first Eventually these new residents would clash with various Native American groups, many of whom were The native whites united, peeled many Scalawags away from the Republican coalition, and elected a governor and a majority of the lower house of the legislature in 1870, in an election characterized by widespread violence and fraud. William Garrott Brown, Albert James Pickett, Austin L. Venable, "William L. Yancey's Transition from Unionism to State Rights. ", McWhiney, Grady. organized as the Creek Confederacy. Urban population= 744,273; Thus the constitution went into effect, the state was readmitted to the Union in June 1868, and a new governor and legislature were elected. Cotton production in bales=275,000; African-American population=119,121; The owners' wealth depended on the labor of hundreds of thousands of enslaved African Americans, many initially transported in the domestic trade from the Upper South, which resulted in one million workers being relocated to the South. The Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee Nation and other Creek factions remained neutral to or allied with the United States during the war; they were highly decentralized in bands' alliances. 1825 - French general and American Revolution-hero, the Marquis de Lafayette, toured Alabama at Governor Israel Pickens' invitation. The Republicans responded: The major newspapers kept up a steady, loud attack on the Klan as violent and unAmerican. Three years later, in 1798, Congress organized this district as the Mississippi Territory. Governor Wallace's "stand in the schoolhouse door" at the University of Alabama protests federally forced racial integration; Vivian Old Mobile Flooded! 1892). Alabama Governor's Mansion. Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, establish "flying school" on land outside Montgomery (present site of Maxwell Air Force Base) ", Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, "A Meaning for Turner's Frontier: Part II: The Southwest Frontier and New England.". Alabama History in May. The freedmen were enrolled as voters. Often they pillaged the dead for boots, belts, canteens, blankets, hats, shirts and pants. March 21 - Rev. local farmers to diversify by planting more profitable crops such as peanuts. This made voter registration more difficult, as the offices had offered both services. It's fluid. The Ceremonial Complex represents a major component of the religion of the Mississippian peoples; it is one of the primary means by which their religion is understood. In 1767, Britain expanded the province of West Florida northward to 32°28'N latitude. On this note Edmund Burke would later note that English colonists in America would owe their freedom more "to [the Crown's] carelessness than to its design". The Republican Party by then was chiefly supported by African Americans. George C. Wallace is shot in Maryland while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president. Dr. James Marion Sims, "the Father of Modern Gynecology," established a medical practice in Mt. of the Year" award from the Country Music Association (1986). Urban population=35,179; African-American population= 908,282; African-American population= 900,652; to training girls to make a living. The Spanish were the first Europeans to enter Alabama, claiming land for their Crown. Finally, Birmingham leaders King and Shuttlesworth agreed to end the marches when the businessmen's group committed to end segregation in stores and public facilities. Rural population= 1,432,224; While Dallas and Lowndes counties were each 75% black, between them only 103 African-American voters managed to register. Conflict between the various tribes in Alabama and American settlers increased rapidly in the early 19th century because the Americans kept encroaching on Native American territories. "[55] Independent groups affiliated with the KKK bombed transitional residential neighborhoods to discourage blacks' moving into them; in 19 cases, they bombed black churches with congregations active in civil rights, and the homes of their ministers.[55]). 1871 - Birmingham founded; evolves into center of Southern iron and steel industry. Oct 5, 1817. By 1903 only 2,980 had managed to "qualify" to register, although at least 74,000 black voters were literate. The French and the English engaged in competition for Indian trade in what is now the state of Alabama between roughly the 1690s and the 1750s, at which point the French and Indian War broke out. Rural population=915,300; Huntsville also has a large defense industry presence. March 7 - Six-hundred demonstrators make the first of three attempts to march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery to demand removal of voting (e.g. Birmingham bombings of Civil Rights-related targets, including the offices of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the home of A.D. 1519 - Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda of Spain explores Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Mexico, including Mobile Bay. of the state. One of the first problems of the new commonwealth was that of finance. 1874 - State elections return conservative Democrat "Bourbon Redeemers" to political power. 1720 - French Louisiana capital moved from Mobile west to Biloxi; then to New Orleans (1722). [21], In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act under the leadership of President Andrew Jackson, authorizing federal removal of southeastern tribes to west of the Mississippi River, including the Five Civilized Tribes of Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole (in Florida). Its earliest days saw the city grow into one of the most important industrial hubs in … In History. The Chickasaw frequently favored the English in this contest. According to the Presidential plan of reorganization, a provisional governor for Alabama was appointed in June 1865. Mills Thornton argues that Whigs worked for positive state action to benefit society as a whole, while the Democrats feared any increase of power in government or in state-sponsored institutions as central banks. The name Alabama is derived from an Indian word meaning "thicket clearers." 1702 - January 6 - Le Moyne brothers, Iberville and Bienville, establish French fort and settlement at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff; settlement and the admission of Mississippi into the union as a state. At the same time, KKK vigilantes—thinking they enjoyed governmental protection—launched a wave of physical terror across Alabama in 1927, targeting both blacks and whites. The Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 attracted national and international press and TV coverage. Most historical maps of Alabama were published in atlases and spans over 200 years of growth for the state.. Free black population=2,039; Following years of struggles after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, segregation was abolished and African Americans could again exercise their constitutional right to vote. The French also colonized the region. The next year Governor Robert M. Patton estimated that 20,000 veterans had returned home permanently disabled, and there were 20,000 widows and 60,000 orphans. Rural population= 1,901,975; America's history is not static. When the Democratic National Convention at Charleston, South Carolina, failed to approve the "Alabama Platform" in 1860, the Alabama delegates, followed by those of the other "cotton states", withdrew. ", William Warren Rogers, "The Farmers Alliance in Alabama,". from the cave indicate that the site was inhabited almost continuously from that time. Urban population= 2,011,941; State's population=309,527: 1830 Federal Census - February, 1815 - British forces take Fort Bowyer on return from defeat at New Orleans, then abandon upon learning that the war is over. By June 1, 1903, the number of registered voters had dropped to 1,081. In 1926, Democrat Bibb Graves, a former chapter head, won the governor's office with KKK members' support. White population= 833,718; You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources . The effects of segregation suffered by African Americans were severe. A timeline created with Timetoast's interactive timeline maker. The black exodus escalated steadily in the first three decades of the 20th century; 22,100 emigrated from 1900 to 1910; 70,800 between 1910 and 1920; and 80,700 between 1920 and 1930.[4][5]. Despite Birmingham's powerful industrial growth and its contributions to the state economy, its citizens, and those of other newly developing areas, were underrepresented in the state legislature for years. By the end of the Americans often interpreted great events in religious terms. [12] Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no direct links to Mesoamerican culture, but developed independently. About 10,000 slaves escaped and joined the Union army, along with 2,700 white men. Cotton production in bales=375,000; Partisanship became intense, and Democratic charges of corruption of the black electorate were matched by Republican and Populist accusations of fraud and violence by Democrats. Soldiers were poorly equipped, especially after 1863. "Labor at the Ballot Box: Alabama Politics from the New Deal to the Dixiecrat Movement. and removed from office. Its founders adopted the name of England's principal industrial city to advertise the new city as a center of iron and steel production. Medical conditions were severe for all soldiers. Thus the whole area of the present state of Alabama was taken under the jurisdiction of the United States. Reconstruction ended when Democrats, calling themselves "Redeemers" regained control of the state legislature by both legal and extralegal means (including violence and harassment). William B. Bankhead, Tallulah was most famous for her flamboyant lifestyle, throaty voice, and stage role in. Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights headquartered in Birmingham. Urban population= 1,228,209; White population= 1,700,844; Schools, restaurants and department stores were segregated; no African Americans were hired to work in the stores where they shopped or in the city government supported in part by their taxes. Rural population=1,601,038; It changes, grows, becomes richer, and more complex when any individual The South Appalachian Mississippian culture Big Eddy phase has been tentatively identified as the protohistoric Province of Tuskaloosa encountered by the de Soto expedition in 1540. 1803 - 1811 - Federal Road conceived and built connecting Milledgeville, Georgia to Fort Stoddert, American outpost north of Mobile. White population=2,783,000; Josiah Gorgas, who came to Alabama from Pennsylvania, was the chief of ordnance for the Confederacy. To strengthen their position, defend their Indian allies, and draw other tribes to them, the French established the military posts of Fort Toulouse, near the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, and Fort Tombecbe on the Tombigbee River. 1972 - May 15 - Gov. The Panic of 1837 wiped out a large portion of the banks' assets, leaving the state poor. By 1874, however, the power of the Republicans was broken, and Democrats regained power in all state offices. Snow was recorded in Birmingham and Montgomery at the start of the holiday weekend and freezing temperatures continued to Monday, the first. On January 11, 1861, the State of Alabama adopted the ordinances of secession[26] from the Union (by a vote of 61–39). White population=521,384: Alabama History in January. In addition, the state cut services at driver's license offices, closing most in several black-majority counties. attempt by Arthur Bremer left the Governor paralyzed from the waist down and effectively ended his chances at the nomination. 1724 - French Code Noir extended from French West Indies to North American colonies, institutionalizing slavery in Mobile area. [20], One of the first problems of the new state was finance. Biloxi was another early French settlement on the Gulf Coast, to the west in what is now Mississippi. 1960 Briarwood Presbyterian Church (later megachurch) established. 1980 - State population=3,894,000: 1980 Federal Census - "Caste in Steel: Jim Crow Careers in Birmingham, Alabama. Free black population=1,572; . As the state tried to improve institutions and infrastructure for the future, the state debt and state taxes rose. 1958 - EBSCO Industries in business. Excerpted from Alabama Department of Archives and History. Rural population= 1,577,323; They graded roads, repaired railroads, drove supply wagons, and labored in iron mines, iron foundries and even in the munitions factories. The Reconstruction Acts of Congress required every new constitution to be ratified by a majority of the legal voters of the state. The Alabama region at the period of European contact is best described as a collection of moderately sized native chiefdoms (such as the Coosa chiefdom on the upper Coosa River and the Tuskaloosa chiefdom on the lower Coosa, Tallapoosa, and Alabama Rivers), interspersed with completely autonomous villages and tribal groups. Battle of Hobdy's Bridge last Indian battle in Alabama (. At the end of WWII, for instance, in the black Collegeville community of Birmingham, only eleven voters in a population of 8,000 African Americans were deemed "eligible" to register to vote. Even though the monument was in appreciation of the boll weevil, the The artifacts 1811 - 1816 - Newspapers established in Mobile to the south (Sentinel May 11, 1811; Gazette 1812) and Huntsville to the north (Alabama Republican He located new munitions plants in Selma, which employed 10,000 workers until the Union soldiers burned the factories down in 1865. [36] In 1900 fourteen Black Belt counties (which were primarily African American) had more than 79,000 voters on the rolls. Dramatic images of Birmingham police using police dogs and powerful streams of water against children protesters filled newspapers and television coverage, arousing national outrage. The portion of Alabama below the 31st parallel was considered a part of British West Florida. ", Norrell, Robert J. 1919 - December 11 - The boll weevil monument is dedicated in Enterprise. Mobile was founded as the capital of colonial French Louisiana in 1702 and remained a part of New France for over 60 years. 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