Alabama: Cotton State History and the Gulf Coast
Alabama entered the Union in 1819 as the twenty-second state. Montgomery served as the first capital of the Confederate States for several months in 1861 before the government relocated to Richmond. The state played a defining role in the Civil Rights Movement a century later. Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery in December 1955. Martin Luther King Jr. led the bus boycott that followed. The marches from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 helped push the Voting Rights Act through Congress.
Birmingham grew into an industrial center during the late 1800s on the back of iron ore, coal, and limestone deposits found in close proximity. The city earned the name "Pittsburgh of the South" for its steel production. After the steel industry declined, the University of Alabama at Birmingham medical center became the largest employer in the state. Huntsville, in the northern part of the state, houses NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the Redstone Arsenal. The Saturn V rocket that carried astronauts to the moon was developed there.
Mobile, on the Gulf Coast, has the oldest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States, predating New Orleans by several years. The port of Mobile handles roughly 60 million tons of cargo annually. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach draw tourists to Alabama's short but popular coastline along the Gulf of Mexico.
The population stands at roughly 5.2 million. Alabama's economy mixes automotive manufacturing (Honda, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz all operate assembly plants in the state), aerospace and defense, agriculture, and healthcare. The state has 67 counties, more than any other state east of the Mississippi except Georgia.
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Alabama entered the Union in 1819 as the twenty-second state. Montgomery served as the first capital of the Confederate States for several months in 1861 before the government relocated to Richmond. The state played a defining role in the Civil Rights Movement a century later. Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery in December 1955. Martin Luther King Jr. led the bus boycott that followed. The marches from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 helped push the Voting Rights Act through Congress.
Birmingham grew into an industrial center during the late 1800s on the back of iron ore, coal, and limestone deposits found in close proximity. The city earned the name "Pittsburgh of the South" for its steel production. After the steel industry declined, the University of Alabama at Birmingham medical center became the largest employer in the state. Huntsville, in the northern part of the state, houses NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the Redstone Arsenal. The Saturn V rocket that carried astronauts to the moon was developed there.
Mobile, on the Gulf Coast, has the oldest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States, predating New Orleans by several years. The port of Mobile handles roughly 60 million tons of cargo annually. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach draw tourists to Alabama's short but popular coastline along the Gulf of Mexico.
The population stands at roughly 5.2 million. Alabama's economy mixes automotive manufacturing (Honda, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz all operate assembly plants in the state), aerospace and defense, agriculture, and healthcare. The state has 67 counties, more than any other state east of the Mississippi except Georgia.
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