Alabama

State of Alabama

ORIGIN OF STATE NAME: Probably after the Alabama Indian tribe.

NICKNAME: The Heart of Dixie.

CAPITAL: Montgomery.

ENTERED UNION: 14 December 1819 (22nd).

SONG: "Alabama."

MOTTO: Aldemus jura nostra defendere (We dare defend our rights).

COAT OF ARMS: Two eagles, symbolizing courage, support a shield bearing the emblems of the five governments (France, England, Spain, Confederacy, US) that have held sovereignty over Alabama. Above the shield is a sailing vessel modeled upon the ships of the first French settlers of Alabama; beneath the shield is the state motto.

FLAG: Crimson cross of St. Andrew on a square white field.

OFFICIAL SEAL: The map of Alabama, including names of major rivers and neighboring states, surrounded by the words "Alabama Great Seal."

BIRD: Yellowhammer.

FISH: Tarpon.

FLOWER: Camellia.

TREE: Southern (longleaf) pine.

GEM: Star Blue Quartz.

LEGAL HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Martin Luther King, Jr., 3rd Monday in January; George Washington's/Thomas Jefferson's Birthdays, 3rd Monday in February; Mardi Gras, February or March; Confederate Memorial Day, 4th Monday in April; Jefferson Davis's Birthday, 1st Monday in June; Independence Day, 4 July; Labor Day, 1st Monday in September; Columbus Day/American Indian Heritage Day, 2nd Monday in October; Veterans Day, 11 November; Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thursday in November; Christmas Day, 25 December.

TIME: 6 AM CST = noon GMT.

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT

Located in the eastern south-central United States, Alabama ranks 29th in size among the 50 states.

The total area of Alabama is 51,705 sq mi (133,915 sq km), of which land constitutes 50,767 sq mi (131,486 sq km) and inland water, 938 sq mi (2,429 sq km). Alabama extends roughly 200 mi (320 km) e-w; the maximum n-s extension is 300 mi (480 km). Alabama is bordered on the n by Tennessee; on the e by Georgia (with part of the line formed by the Chattahoochee River); on the s by Florida (with part of the line defined by the Perdido River) and the Gulf of Mexico; and on the w by Mississippi (with the northernmost part of the line passing through the Tennessee River).

Dauphin Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, is the largest offshore island. The total boundary length of Alabama is 1,044 mi (1,680 km). The state's geographic center is in Chilton County, 12 mi (19 km) sw of Clanton.

TOPOGRAPHY

Alabama is divided into four major physiographic regions: the Gulf Coastal Plain, Piedmont Plateau, Ridge and Valley section, and Appalachian (or Cumberland) Plateau. The physical characteristics of each province have significantly affected settlement and industrial development patterns within the state.

The coastal plain, comprising the southern half of Alabama, consists primarily of lowlands and low ridges. Included within the coastal plain is the Black Belt—historically, the center of cotton production and plantation slavery in Alabama—an area of rich, chalky soil that stretches across the entire width of central Alabama. Just to the north, the piedmont of east-central Alabama contains rolling hills and valleys. Alabama's highest elevation, Cheaha Mountain, 2,405 ft (733 m) above sea level, is located at the northern edge of this region. North and west of the piedmont is a series of parallel ridges and valleys running in a northeast-southwest direction. Mountain ranges in this area include the Red, Shades, Oak, Lookout, and other noteworthy southern extensions of the Appalachian chain; elevations of 1,200 ft (366 m) are found as far south as Birmingham. The Appalachian Plateau covers most of northwestern Alabama, with a portion of the Highland Rim in the extreme north near the Tennessee border. The floodplain of the Tennessee River cuts a wide swath across both these northern regions. The lowest point in the state is at sea level at the Gulf of Mexico. The mean elevation of the state is approximately 500 ft (153 m).

The largest lake wholly within Alabama is Guntersville Lake, covering about 108 sq mi (280 sq km) and formed during the development of the Tennessee River region by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The TVA lakes—also including Wheeler, Pickwick, and Wilson—are all long and narrow, fanning outward along a line that runs from the northeast corner of the state westward to Florence. Wetlands cover about 10% of the state.

The longest rivers are the Alabama, extending from the mid-central region to the Mobile River for a distance of about 160 mi (260 km); the Tennessee, which flows across northern Alabama for about the same distance; and the Tombigbee, which flows south from north-central Alabama for some 150 mi (240 km). The Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, which come together to form the Mobile River, and the Tensaw River flow into Mobile Bay, an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. The Mobile River, which has its source in Tickanetley Creek, Georgia, has a total length of 774 mi (1,246 km) and is the twentieth longest river in the country.

About 450 million years ago, Alabama was covered by a warm, shallow sea. Over millions of years, heavy rains washed gravel, sand, and clay from higher elevations onto the rock floor of the sea to help form the foundation of modern Alabama. The skeletons and shells of sea animals, composed of limy material from rocks that had been worn away by water, settled into great thicknesses of limestone and dolomite. Numerous caves and sinkholes formed as water slowly eroded the limestone subsurface of northern Alabama. Archaeologists believe that Russell Cave, in northeastern Alabama, was the earliest site of human habitation in the southeastern US. Other major caves in northern Alabama are Manitou and Sequoyah; near Childersburg is DeSoto Caverns, a huge onyx cave once considered a sacred place by Creek Indians.

Wheeler Dam on the Tennessee River is now a national historic monument. Other major dams include Guntersville, Martin, Millers Ferry, Jordan, Mitchell, and Holt.

CLIMATE

Alabama's three climatic divisions are the lower coastal plain, largely subtropical and strongly influenced by the Gulf of Mexico; the northern plateau, marked by occasional snowfall in winter; and the Black Belt and upper coastal plain, lying between the two extremes. Among the major population centers, Birmingham has an annual average temperature of 63°f (17°c), with an average July daily maximum of 90°f (32°c) and a normal January daily minimum of 33°f (1°c). Montgomery has an annual average of 65°f (18°c), with a normal July daily average maximum of 92°f (33°c) and a normal January daily minimum of 37°f (2°c). The average in Mobile is 67°f (19°c), with a normal July daily maximum of 91°f (33°c) and a normal January daily minimum of 41°f (5°c). The record low temperature for the state is −27°f (−33°c), registered at New Market, in the northeastern corner, on 30 January 1966; the all-time high is 112°f (44°c), registered at Centerville, in the state's midsection, on 5 September 1925. Mobile, one of the rainiest cities in the United States, recorded an average precipitation of 66.3 in (168 cm) a year between 1971 and 2000.

Its location on the Gulf of Mexico leaves the coastal region open to the effects of hurricanes. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina swept through the region, causing two deaths in Mobile, extensive flooding, and power outages for over 300,000 people.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Alabama was once covered by vast forests of pine, which still form the largest proportion of the state's forest growth. Alabama also has an abundance of poplar, cypress, hickory, oak, and various gum trees. Red cedar grows throughout the state; southern white cedar is found in the southwest, hemlock in the north. Other native trees include hackberry, ash, and holly, with species of palmetto and palm in the Gulf Coast region. There are more than 150 shrubs, mountain laurel and rhododendron among them. Cultivated plants include wisteria and camellia, the state flower.

In a state where large herds of bison, elk, bear, and deer once roamed, only the white-tailed deer remains abundant. Other mammals still found are the Florida panther, bobcat, beaver, muskrat, and most species of weasel. The fairly common raccoon, opossum, rabbit, squirrel, and red and gray foxes are also native, while nutria and armadillo have been introduced to the state. Alabama's birds include golden and bald eagles, osprey and various other hawks, yellowhammers or flickers (the state bird), and black and white warblers; game birds include quail, duck, wild turkey, and geese. Freshwater fish such as bream, shad, bass, and sucker are common. Along the Gulf Coast there are seasonal runs of tarpon (the state fish), pompano, redfish, and bonito.

In April 2006, a total of 96 species occurring within the state were on the threatened and endangered species list of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. These included 79 animals, the Alabama beach mouse, gray bat, Alabama red-belly turtle, finback and humpback whales, bald eagle, and wood stork among them, and 17 plant species.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Under the 1982 Alabama Environmental Management Act, the Alabama Environmental Management Commission was created and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) was established. The ADEM absorbed several commissions, programs, and agencies that had been responsible for Alabama's environment.

The Environmental Management Commission, whose seven members are appointed to six-year terms by the governor and approved by the Alabama Senate, is charged with managing the state's land, air, and water resources. The ADEM administers all major federal environmental requirements including the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and solid and hazardous waste laws. The most active environmental groups in the state are the Alabama Environmental Council, Sierra Club, League of Women Voters, Alabama Audubon Council, and Alabama Rivers Alliance.

Major concerns of environmentalists in the state are the improvement of land-use planning and the protection of ground-water. Another issue is the transportation, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes. In 2003, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) database listed 258 hazardous waste sites. As of 2006, 13 of these sites were on the National Priorities List; Alabama Plating Co. and Capitol City Plume were proposed sites. One of the nation's five largest commercial hazardous waste sites is in Emelle, in Sumter County. In 2005, the EPA allotted over $2.6 million through the Superfund program for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites in the state. Alabama's solid waste stream is about 4.500 million tons a year (1.10 tons per capita). There are 108 municipal landfills and 8 curbside recycling programs in the state. Air quality is generally satisfactory. But in 2003, 118.4 million lb of toxic chemicals were released by the state. In 2005, federal EPA grants awarded to the state included over $20 million for clean water projects.

POPULATION

Alabama ranked 23rd in population among the 50 states in 2005 with an estimated total of 4,557,808, an increase of 2.5% since 2000. Between 1990 and 2000, Alabama's population grew from 4,040,587 to 4,447,100, an increase of 10.1%. The population is projected to reach 4,663,111 by 2015 and 4,800,092 by 2025.

In 2004 the median age was 37. Persons under 18 years old accounted for 24.2% of the population, while 13.2% was age 65 or older.

Alabama experienced its greatest population growth between 1810 and 1820, following the defeat of the Creek Nation by General Andrew Jackson and his troops. Population in what is now Alabama boomed from 9,046 in 1810 to 127,901 in 1820, as migrants from older states on the eastern seaboard poured into the territory formerly occupied by the Creek Indians. Thousands of farmers, hoping to find fertile land or to become wealthy cotton planters, brought their families and often their slaves into the young state, more than doubling Alabama's population between 1820 and 1830. By 1860, Alabama had almost 1,000,000 residents, nearly one-half of whom were black slaves. The Civil War brought Alabama's population growth almost to a standstill, largely because of heavy losses on the battlefield. The total population gain between 1860 and 1870 was only about 30,000, whereas between 1870 and 1970, Alabama's population rose by 150,000-300,000 every decade. During the 1980s the population increased 148,000.

In 2004, Alabama had a population density of 89.3 persons per sq mi. First in size among Alabama's metropolitan areas comes greater Birmingham, which had an estimated 1,082,193 residents in July 2004. Other major metropolitan areas were Greater Mobile, 400,526; Greater Montgomery, 355,181; and Greater Huntsville, 362,459. The city of Birmingham proper was Alabama's largest city, with an estimated 233,149 residents in 2004; Montgomery had 200,983, and Mobile had 192,759.

ETHNIC GROUPS

Alabama's population is largely divided between whites of English and Scotch-Irish descent and blacks descended from African slaves. The 2000 census counted about 22,430 American Indians (up from 17,000 in 1990), or 0.5% of the total population, mostly of Creek or Cherokee descent. Creek Indians are centered around the small community of Poarch in southern Alabama; most of the Cherokee live in the northeastern part of the state, where the Cherokee reservation had 12,294 residents as of 2000. In 2004, 0.5% of Alabama's population was American Indian.

The black population of Alabama in 2000 numbered 1,155,930, or about 26% of the total population. In 2004, the black population of Alabama amounted to 26.4% of the total population. As before the Civil War, rural blacks are most heavily represented in the Black Belt of central Alabama.

In 2000, the Asian population totaled 31,346, or less than 1% of the total, and Pacific Islanders numbered 1,409; in the same year, the population of Hispanic or Latino descent totaled 75,830, up from 43,000 in 1990, an increase from 1% to 1.7% of the total population within the decade. In 2000, Alabama had 6,900 Asian Indians (up from 3,686 in 1990), 4,116 Koreans, and 6,337 Chinese (up from 3,529 in 1990). All told, the foreign born numbered 87,772 (2% of the state's population) in 2000, up from 1% 10 years earlier. Among persons reporting a single ancestry group, the leaders were Irish, 343,254 (down from 617,065 in 1990), and English, 344,735 (down from 479,499 in 1990). In 2004, 0.8% of the population of Alabama was Asian, 2.2% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino origin, and 0.9% of the population reported origins of two or more races.

Alabama's Cajuns, of uncertain racial origin (Anglo-Saxon, French, Spanish, Choctaw, Apache, and African elements may all be represented), are ethnically unrelated to the Cajuns of Louisiana. Thought to number around 10,000, they live primarily in the pine woods area of upper Mobile and lower Washington counties. Many Alabama Cajuns suffer from poverty, poor health, and malnutrition.

LANGUAGES

Four Indian tribes—the Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Cherokee—occupied the four quarters of Alabama as white settlement began, but by treaty agreement they were moved westward between 1814 and 1835, leaving behind such place-names as Alabama, Talladega, Mobile, and Tuscaloosa.

Alabama English is predominantly Southern, with a transition zone between it and a smaller area into which South Midland speech was taken across the border from Tennessee. Some features common to both dialects occur throughout the state, such as croker sack (burlap bag), batter cakes (made of cornmeal), harp (harmonica), and snap beans. In the major Southern speech region are found the decreasing loss of final /r/, the /boyd/ pronunciation of bird, soft peach (freestone), press peach (clingstone), mosquito hawk (dragonfly), fire dogs (andirons), and gopher (burrowing turtle). In the northern third of the state are found South Midland arm and barb rhyming with form and orb, redworm (earthworm), peckerwood (woodpecker), snake doctor and snake feeder (dragonfly), tow sack (burlap bag), plum peach (clingstone), French harp (harmonica), and dog irons (andirons).

Alabama has experienced only minor foreign immigration, and in 2000, 96.1% of all residents five years old or older spoke only English at home, a slight decrease over the 97.1% recorded in 1990.

The following table gives selected statistics from the 2000 Census for language spoken at home by persons five years old and over. The category "African languages" includes Amharic, Ibo, Twi, Yoruba, Bantu, Swahili, and Somali.

RELIGIONS

Although predominantly Baptist today, Alabama was officially Roman Catholic throughout most of the 18th century, under French and Spanish rule. A century passed between the building of the first Catholic Church in 1702 and the earliest sustained efforts by Protestant evangelists. The first Baptist church in the state, the Flint River Church in Madison County, was organized in 1808; the following year, the Old Zion Methodist Church was founded in the Tombigbee area.

During the second decade of the 19th century, settlers from the southeastern states brought the influence of the Great Revival to Alabama, along with the various Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist sects that had developed in its wake. The first black church in Alabama probably dates from 1820. As in other southern states, black slaves who had previously attended the churches of their masters formed their own churches after the Civil War. One of the earliest of these, the Little Zion Methodist Church, was established in 1867 in Mobile. Most freed blacks became Baptists, however.

The vast majority of congregations in the state belong in the category of Evangelical Protestants. As of 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention was the fastest growing and the largest denomination within the state, with 1,380,121 adherents and 3,148 congregations, representing an increase of 83 congregations since 1990. In 2002, an additional 24,454 members joined the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2003, the United Methodist Church claimed 306,289 adherents with 1,505 congregations in all state conferences (which include some congregations in West Florida). In 2004, there were 140,365 Roman Catholics in the state. The Church of Christ had 119,049 adherents in 2000 and 895 congregations. The same year there were an estimated 9,100 Jews. About 45.2% of the population did not specify a religious affiliation.

The national headquarters of the Women's Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Conference is located in Birmingham. The organization was founded in 1888 and is one of the largest Protestant women's mission organizations in the world, with about 1 million members.

TRANSPORTATION

The first rail line in the state—the Tuscumbia Railroad, chartered in 1830—made its first run, 44 mi (71 km) around the Muscle Shoals from Tuscumbia to Decatur, on 15 December 1834. By 1852, however, Alabama had only 165 mi (266 km) of track, less than most other southern states. Further development awaited the end of the Civil War. Birmingham, as planned by John T. Milner, chief engineer of the South and North Railroad, was founded in 1871 as a railroad intersection in the midst of Alabama's booming mining country; it subsequently became the state's main rail center, followed by Mobile. As of 2003, Alabama had 3,735 total rail mi (6,013 km) of track, of which the state's five Class I railroads accounted for 2,900 rail mi (4,690 km). In that same year, coal accounted for the largest portion of all commodities (by weight) shipped by rail. As of 2006, Amtrak passenger service connected Birmingham, Anniston, and Tuscaloosa with Washington and New Orleans. Other passenger service included a route connecting Mobile with Jacksonville, Florida and New Orleans.

In settlement days the principal roads into Alabama were the Federal Road, formerly a Creek horse path, from Georgia and South Carolina; and the Natchez Trace, bought by the federal government (1801) from the Choctaw and Chickasaw, leading from Kentucky and Tennessee. Throughout most of the 19th century, road building was in the hands of private companies. Only after the establishment of a state highway department in 1911 and the securing of federal aid for rural road building in 1916 did Alabama begin to develop modern road systems.

As of 2004 there were 95,483 mi (151,778 km) of public streets, roads, and highways. In the same year, the state had 1.677 million registered automobiles, 2.778 million trucks of all types, and some 3,000 buses. There were 3.613 million licensed drivers in 2004. Most of the major interstate highways in Alabama intersect at Birmingham: I-65, running from the north to Montgomery and Mobile; and I-59 from the northeast and I-20 from the east, which, after merging at Birmingham, run southwestward to Tuscaloosa and into Mississippi. Route I-85 connects Montgomery with Atlanta; and I-10 connects Mobile with New Orleans and Tallahassee, FL.

The coming of the steamboat to Alabama waters, beginning in 1818, stimulated settlement in the Black Belt; however, the high price of shipping cotton by water contributed to the eventual displacement of the steamboat by the railroad. Thanks to the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Tennessee River has been transformed since the 1930s into a year-round navigable waterway, with three locks and dams in Alabama. The 234-mi (377-km), $2-billion Tennessee-Tombigbee project, which opened in 1985, provided a new barge route, partly through Alabama, from the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico, for which the US Army Corps of Engineers cut a 39-mi (63-km) canal and built 10 locks and dams. This was not only the largest civilian engineering project in the United States during the early 1980s but also by far the largest earth-moving project in US history, displacing more earth than was moved to build the Panama Canal.

The Alabama-Coosa and Black Warrior-Tombigbee systems also have been made navigable by locks and dams. River barges are used to carry bulk cargoes. There are 1,270 mi (2,043 km) of navigable inland waterways and 50 mi (80 km) of Gulf coast. The only deepwater port is Mobile, with a large oceangoing trade. As of 2004, Mobile was the 11th-busiest port in the United States, handling a total of 56.211 million tons. Total waterborne tonnage for the state in 2003 was 72.65 million tons. The Alabama State Docks also operates a system of 10 inland docks; and there are several privately run inland docks.

In 2005, Alabama had a total of 277 public and private-use aviation-related facilities. This included 182 airports, 90 heliports, one STOLport (Short Take-Off and Landing), and four seaplane bases. The state's largest and busiest airport is Birmingham International Airport. In 2004, the airport had 1,498,651 enplanements.

HISTORY

The region now known as Alabama has been inhabited for some 9,000-10,000 years. The earliest evidence of human habitation, charcoal from an ancient campfire at Russell Cave in northeastern Alabama, is about 9,000 years old. These early peoples, probably descended from humans who crossed from Asia to North America via the Bering Strait, moved from caves and open campsites to permanent villages about ad 1000. Some of their descendants, popularly called Mound Builders, erected huge earthen temple mounds and simple huts along Alabama's rivers, beginning around 1100. Moundville (near Tuscaloosa), one of the most important Mound Builder sites in the southeastern US, includes 20 "platform mounds" for Indian buildings, dating from 1200 to 1500. When the first Europeans arrived, Alabama was inhabited by Indians, half of them either Creek or members of smaller groups living within the Creek confederacy. The Creeks resided in central and eastern Alabama; Cherokee Indians inhabited northeastern Alabama, the Chickasaws lived in the northwest, and the Choctaws settled in the southwest.

During the 16th century, five Spanish expeditions entered Mobile Bay or explored the region now called Alabama. The most extensive was that of Hernando de Soto, whose army marched from the Tennessee Valley to the Mobile Delta in 1540. In 1702, two French naval officers—Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville; and Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville—established Ft. Louis de la Mobile, the first permanent European settlement in present-day Alabama. Mobile remained in French hands until 1763, when it was turned over to the British under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Because a British garrison held Mobile during the American Revolution, that city was captured in 1780 by the forces of Spain, an ally of the rebellious American colonists. In 1803, the United States claimed the city as part of the Louisiana Purchase, but in vain. Spanish control of Mobile lasted until the city was again seized during the War of 1812, this time by American troops in 1813. West Florida, including Mobile, was the only territory added to the United States as a result of that war.

At the start of the 19th century, Indians still held most of present-day Alabama. War broke out in 1813 between American settlers and a Creek faction known as the Red Sticks, who were determined to resist white encroachment. After General Andrew Jackson and his Tennessee militia crushed the Red Sticks in 1814 at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in central Alabama, he forced the Creek to sign a treaty ceding some 40,000 sq mi (103,600 sq km) of land to the United States, thereby opening about three-fourths of the present state to white settlement. By 1839, nearly all Alabama Indians had been removed to Indian Territory.

From 1814 onward, pioneers, caught up by what was called "Alabama fever," poured out of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky into what Andrew Jackson called "the best unsettled country in America." Wealthy migrants came in covered wagons, bringing their slaves, cattle, and hogs. But the great majority of pioneers were ambitious farmers who moved to the newly opened area in hopes of acquiring fertile land on which to grow cotton. Cotton's profitability had increased enormously with the invention of the cotton gin. In 1817, Alabama became a territory; on 2 August 1819, a state constitution was adopted; and on the following 14 December, Alabama was admitted to statehood. Alabama, then as now, was sparsely populated. In 1819, its residents comprised 1.3% of the US population. That percentage had grown to only 2% in 1980, but by 2004, the percentage had increased to 6.5%.

During the antebellum era, 95% of white Alabamians lived and worked in rural areas, primarily as farmers. Although "Cotton was king" in 19th-century Alabama, farmers also grew corn, sorghum, oats, and vegetables, as well as razorback hogs and cattle. By 1860, 80% of Alabama farmers owned the land they tilled. Only about 33% of all white Alabamians were slave owners. Whereas in 1820 there were 85,451 free whites and 41,879 slaves, by 1860 the number of slaves had increased to 435,080, constituting 45% of the state population. Large planters (owners of 50 slaves or more) made up less than 1% of Alabama's white population in 1860. However, they owned 28% of the state's total wealth and occupied 25% of the seats in the legislature. Although the preponderance of the wealth and the population in Alabama was located in the north, the success of Black Belt plantation owners at forging coalitions with industrialists enabled planters to dominate state politics both before and after the Civil War. The planters led the secessionist movement, and most other farmers, fearing the consequences of an end to slavery, eventually followed suit. However, 2,500 white Alabamians served in the Union Army and an estimated 8,000-10,000 others acted as Union scouts, deserted Confederate units, or hid from conscription agents.

Alabama seceded from the Union in January 1861 and shortly thereafter joined the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy was organized in Alabama's Senate chamber in Montgomery, and Jefferson Davis was inaugurated president on the steps of the capitol. Montgomery served as capital of the Confederacy until May, when the seat of government was moved to Richmond, VA.

Remote from major theaters of war, Alabama experienced only occasional Union raids during the first three years of the conflict. In the summer of 1864, however, Confederate and Union ships fought a major naval engagement in Mobile Bay, which ended in surrender by the outnumbered southern forces. During the Confederacy's dying days in the spring of 1865, federal troops swept through Tuscaloosa, Selma, and Montgomery. Their major goal, Selma, one of the Confederacy's main industrial centers, was left almost as heavily devastated as Richmond or Atlanta. Estimates of the number of Alabamians killed in the Civil War range from 25,000 upward.

During Reconstruction, Alabama was under military rule until it was readmitted to the Union in 1868. For the next six years, Republicans held most top political positions in the state. With the help of the Ku Klux Klan, Democrats regained political control of the state in November 1874.

Cotton remained the foundation of the Alabama economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, with the abolition of slavery it was now raised by sharecroppers—white and black landless farmers who paid for the land they rented from planters with the cotton they harvested. Alabama also attempted to create a "New South" in which agriculture would be balanced by industry. In the 1880s and 1890s, at least 20 Alabama towns were touted as ironworking centers. Birmingham, founded in 1871, became the New South's leading industrial center. Its promoters invested in pig iron furnaces, coal mines, steel plants, and real estate. Small companies merged with bigger ones, which were taken over, in turn, by giant corporations. In 1907, Birmingham's Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Co. was purchased by the nation's largest steelmaker, US Steel.

Another major Alabama enterprise was cotton milling. By 1900, 9,000 men, women, and children were employed in Alabama mills; most of these white workers were farm folk who had lost their land after the Civil War because of mounting debts and low cotton prices. Wages in mills were so low that entire families had to work hours as long as those they had endured as farmers.

The rise in the rate of farm tenancy produced a corresponding increase in social and political unrest. Discontented farmers and factory workers allied during the 1890s in the Populist Party in an attempt to overthrow the Bourbon Democrats, who had dominated Alabama politics for two decades. Although a number of Populists were elected to the Alabama legislature, no Populist candidate succeeded in winning the governorship, primarily because Democrats manipulated the black vote to their own advantage. In 1901, Alabama adopted a new state constitution containing numerous restrictions on voting, supposedly to end vote manipulation and restore honest elections. The tangible result of these new rules was to disenfranchise almost all Alabama black voters and thousands of poor whites. For example, the total number of blacks registered in 14 counties fell from 78,311 in 1900 to 1,081 in 1903. As recently as 1941, fewer than 25% of Alabama adults were registered voters. In 1960, no blacks voted in Lowndes or Wilcox counties, which were 80% and 78% black, respectively.

As one of the poorest states in the country, Alabama benefited disproportionately from the New Deal. Yet, like other southern states, Alabama viewed the expansion of the national government's role with mixed feelings. Alabamians embraced federal aid, even lobbying for military bases, while seeing federal power as a threat to the "southern way of life," which included racial segregation.

During the 1950s and 1960s, national attention focused on civil rights demonstrations in Alabama, including the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955, the Birmingham and University of Alabama demonstrations of 1963, and the voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. The primary antagonists were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Governor George C. Wallace, an opponent of integration. These black protests and the sometimes violent reactions to them, such as the 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham in which four young black girls—Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Rosamond Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins—were killed, helped influence the US Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Four former Ku Klux Klansmen were suspects in the church bombing: Robert E. Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Frank Cash, and Thomas E. Blanton Jr. In 1977, Robert Chambliss was convicted of the murders and was sentenced to a life term. He died in prison in 1985. Suspect Herman Cash died in 1994, without having been charged of the crime. Blanton and Cherry were indicted on four counts each of first-degree and reckless murder in 2000. Cherry was subsequently ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial, but Blanton was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in 2001, and sentenced to four life terms. Cherry was later deemed competent to stand trial, and in 2002, he was convicted and sentenced to an automatic life term in prison. Cherry died in 2004.

Once the most tightly segregated city in the nation, Birmingham has become thoroughly integrated in public facilities, and in 1979 the city elected its first black mayor, Richard Arrington. The civil rights era brought other momentous changes to Alabama. Hundreds of thousands of black voters are now an important force in state politics. Blacks attend school, colleges, and universities of their choice and enjoy equal access to all public facilities. On the whole, new racial attitudes among most whites have contributed to a vast improvement in the climate of race relations since 1960. Indeed, a significant amount of black support contributed to Wallace's election to a fourth term as governor in 1982. When he died in September 1998 he was given a full state funeral and his family received condolences from black leaders. In 1984 there were 314 black elected officials, including 25 mayors, 19 lawmakers in the Alabama state legislature, and an associate justice of the state supreme court. In 1990, 704 blacks held elective office, and by 2001, the number had increased to 756.

In many respects Alabama has resisted change more successfully than any other state in the Deep South. The state's tax system remains the most regressive in the country. In 1982, the state legislature passed a law prohibiting taxation at market value of land owned by timber companies (timber comprises the state's largest industry). Alabama does not use property taxes to fund schools; instead, public education revenue is derived principally from state income tax (54.6% in 2004) and sales tax (31.9% in 2004). In the late 1990s, the state worked to increase teachers' salaries and bring other measures in line with national education statistics. Alabama has had one of the highest infant mortality rates in the nation, owing in part to widespread poverty. (Alabama and West Virginia were tied for 43rd out of the 50 states in terms of general health and health care in 2004.) Though Alabama's poverty rate steadily declined during the last decades of the 1900s, it remained among the nation's poorer states. In 1969, 25.4% of Alabamians lived below federal poverty levels. By 1989 the figure dropped to 18.3%, and in 1998, it decreased to an estimated 15%, which was still the 13th-highest rate in the nation. By the end of the millennium, 16% of Alabamians lived in poverty, compared to 12.4% of the US population. Alabama is the only state to tax residents earning less than $5,000 a year. The poorest families in the state pay about 11% of their earnings in income, sales, and other local taxes.

A strange turn of events in 1986 resulted in the election of the first Republican governor since Reconstruction. The Democratic candidate, state attorney general Charles Graddick, was stripped of his party's nomination by a federal panel because of crossover Republican voting in the Democratic primary. His replacement, Lieutenant Governor Bill Baxley, lost the election to a little-known pro-business Republican and former Baptist preacher, Guy Hunt. Hunt was reelected in 1990 but was confronted early in his second term with accusations of financial misdeeds, including personal use of official resources and mismanagement of public funds. In 1992, Hunt was indicted on 13 separate felony counts. The following year, he was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy charges and forced to resign the governorship, becoming the fourth governor in the nation's history to be convicted of criminal charges while in office.

In 1999, Alabama received the second largest surplus in the history of the state; the $57 million budget surplus was credited to tight controls over agency spending. In 2003, the state had a $675 million budget deficit, and Governor Bob Riley proposed a $1.2 billion tax increase, raising individual and corporate taxes by $461 million and local and state property taxes by $465 million. In a September 2003 referendum, Alabama voters rejected Riley's tax increase; only 33% of voters cast their ballots in favor of the plan.

Alabama was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. An original six Alabama counties (Baldwin, Mobile, Washington, Clarke, Choctaw, and Sumter) were declared by President George W. Bush to be federal disaster areas. Later, President Bush approved Governor Riley's request to add more Alabama counties to the federal disaster relief list: residents of Greene, Hale, Pickens, and Tuscaloosa were deemed eligible for individual assistance, and Hale, Jefferson, Marengo, and Tuscaloosa counties were deemed eligible for infrastructure assistance due to storm damage.

STATE GOVERNMENT

Alabama has had six constitutions, the most recent one dating from 1901. By January 2005 that document had been amended 766 times. In 2002, amid calls for a constitutional convention, voters approved a constitutional amendment providing that no constitution could be adopted without voter approval.

Alabama's bicameral legislature consists of a 35-seat Senate and a 105-seat House of Representatives, all of whose members are elected at the same time for four-year terms. Legislative sessions are held each year, convening on the second Tuesday in January in general election years, on the first Tuesday in March in years following general election years, and on the first Tuesday in February all other years. (There is a legal provision for an organizational session prior to the stated convening date—on the second Tuesday in January for ten calendar days in the year following a general election.) Session length is limited to 30 legislative days in 105 calendar days. Only the governor may call special sessions, which are limited to 12 legislative days in 30 calendar days. Senators must be at least 25 years old; representatives, 21. Legislators must have resided in the state for at least three years before election and in the district forat least one year. Under federal pressure, in 1983 the legislature approved a reapportionment plan, effective in 1986, that was expected to increase black representation. In 2004, Alabama's legislators received a per diem salary of $10 during regular sessions; each member was also paid $50 per diem for the performance of his or her duties as a member of any authorized interim legislative committee or subcommittee, and $75 for attendance for any other legislative business. Legislators in 2004 received living expenses in the amount of $2,280 per month plus $50 per day for the three days per week that the legislature actually meets. Legislators' terms of office begin on the day after election and expire on the day after election four years later.

State elected officials are the governor and lieutenant governor (separately elected), secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, auditor, and commissioner of agriculture and industries. The governor, who serves for four years, must be at least thirty years old and must have been a US citizen for ten years and a citizen of the state for seven. The governor is limited to a maximum of two consecutive terms. As of December 2004, Alabama's governor earned a salary of $96,361, and was entitled to reimbursement of travel expenses.

A bill becomes a law when it is passed by at least a majority of a quorum of both houses and is either signed by the governor, left unsigned for six days (Sundays excluded) while the legislature is in session, or passed over the governor's veto by a majority of the elected members of each house. A bill must pass both houses in the same form. The governor may pocket veto a measure submitted fewer than five days before adjournment by not signing it within 10 days after adjournment. The governor may amend one or more provisions of any bill, but the legislature may override them by a majority vote. The governor does not have the line-item veto.

The submission of a constitutional amendment to the electorate requires the approval of three-fifths of the membership of each house, but such amendments can also be adopted by constitutional convention. Amendments are ratified by a majority vote of the electorate.

Voters in Alabama must be US citizens, state and county citizens, and at least 18 years old. Restrictions apply to convicted felons and those declared mentally incompetent by the court.

POLITICAL PARTIES

The major political parties in Alabama are the Democratic and Republican parties, each affiliated with the national party organization. The Republicans are weak below the federal-office level.

Pre-Civil War political divisions in the state reflected those found elsewhere in the South. Small and subsistence farmers, especially in the northern hill country and pine forest areas, tended to be Jacksonian Democrats, while the planters of the Black Belt and the river valleys often voted Whig. After a period of Radical Republican rule during Reconstruction, the Bourbon Democrats, whose party then served largely the interests of wealthy proper-ty owners, business people, and white supremacists, ran the state for the rest of the century, despite a challenge in the 1890s by the Populist Party.

On two occasions, 1948 and 1964, the Alabama Democratic Party bolted the national Democratic ticket, each time because of disagreement over civil rights. Barry Goldwater in 1964 was the first Republican presidential candidate in the 20th century to carry Alabama. In 1968, George Wallace carried Alabama overwhelmingly on the American Independent Party slate.

In the 2004 presidential elections, incumbent president Republican George W. Bush carried the state, winning 62.5% of the vote to Democrat John Kerry's 36.8%. Bush increased his margin of victory in 2004; in 2000, Bush won 57% of the vote to Democrat Al Gore's 42%. In 2004 there were 2,597,000 registered voters; there is no party registration. The state had nine electoral votes in the 2004 presidential election. US Senator Richard Shelby was reelected as a Democrat in 1992, but switched his affiliation to Republican on 9 November 1994, the day after the Republicans swept into power in the Senate. He was reelected in 1998 and in 2004, when he won 67.5% of the vote. In 1996 Democratic Senator Howell Heflin retired, and his seat was won by Republican Jeff B. Sessions. Sessions was reelected in 2002. Alabama's delegation of US Representatives following the 2004 elections consisted of two Democrats and five Republicans.

During the 20th century, the Democratic Party commanded virtually every statewide office, major and minor. Democrat James Folsom was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1990 and became governor in April of 1993 when Governor Guy Hunt was convicted of illegally using money from his inauguration for personal expenses. Folsom lost his election bid for governor to Fob James Jr. in 1994. James had served as governor of the state from 1979 to 1983 as a Democrat, but he switched party affiliations for the 1994 election and upset Folsom in a narrow victory. In the 1998 election Democrat Don Siegelman was elected to the governor's office. In 2002, Republican Bob Riley was elected governor, after serving six years in the US House of Representatives. The Alabama legislature in 2005 consisted of 25 Democrats and 10 Republicans in the Senate and 63 Democrats and 42 Republicans in the House.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

In 2005, Alabama had 67 counties, 451 municipalities, and 128 public school districts. There were 525 special districts, including the Northeast Mississippi-Northwest Alabama Railroad Authority, the Alabama Housing Finance Authority, and the Alabama Highway Authority. Counties are governed by county commissions, usually consisting of three to seven commissioners, elected by district. Other county officials include judges of probate, clerk, tax assessor and collector, sheriff, and superintendent of education. The oldest county in the state is Washington, established in 1800. The newest county, Houston, was established in 1903.

Mayor-council is the most common form of municipal government. But until the late 1970s, the predominant form of municipal government, especially in the larger cities, was the commission, whose members are elected either at-large or by district. Partly in response to court orders requiring district elections in order to permit the election of more black officials, after the 1970s there was a trend toward the mayor-council form, although the US Supreme Court ruled in May 1980 that Mobile may elect its public officials at-large. Elections for municipal officers are held every four years.

An alteration in local government had a significant effect on the racial climate in Birmingham during the 1960s, when the Young Men's Business Club led a movement to change to the mayor-council system, in order to oust a commission (including Eugene "Bull" Connor as public safety commissioner) that for nearly a decade had reacted negatively to every black demand. After a narrow vote in favor of the change, a moderate was elected mayor in April 1963, but the former commissioners then contested the initial vote that had changed the system. At the height of Birmingham's racial troubles, both the former commissioners and the newly elected council claimed to govern Birmingham, but neither did so effectively. When peace came, it was as the result of an unofficial meeting held between local black leaders and 77 of the city's most influential whites, with federal officials serving as mediators. Although the council, like the commissioners, publicly opposed these negotiations, once they were over and the council's election confirmed, the new moderate leadership permitted peaceful racial accommodation to go forward. In addition to the mayor-council and commission forms of administration, some municipalities employ city managers.

In 2005, local government accounted for about 188,349 full-time (or equivalent) employment positions.

STATE SERVICES

To address the continuing threat of terrorism and to work with the federal Department of Homeland Security, homeland security in Alabama operates under the authority of state statute. The state Director of Homeland Security is designated as the state homeland security adviser.

Alabama's Ethics Commission administers the state's ethics law, makes financial disclosure records available to the public, and receives monthly reports from lobbyists. Educational services are administered primarily by the Department of Education and the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. The Alabama Public Library Service supports and promotes the development of public libraries. The Department of Aeronautics, Department of Transportation, and Public Service Commission (PSC) administer transportation services; the PSC supervises, regulates, and controls all transportation companies doing business in the state. Driver's licenses are issued by the Department of Public Safety.

Health and welfare services are offered primarily through the Department of Public Health, Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Youth Services, and Department of Senior Services. Planning for the state's future health-care needs is carried out by the Health Planning and Development Agency.

Public protection services are administered by the Military Department, Department of Corrections, and Department of Public Safety, among other agencies. Numerous government bodies offer resource protection services: the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Management, Alabama Forestry Commission, Oil and Gas Board, Surface Mining Commission, and Soil and Water Conservation Committee.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The Alabama Supreme Court is the highest court in the state, consisting of a chief justice and eight associate justices, all elected for staggered six-year terms. It issues opinions on constitutional issues and hears cases appealed from the lower courts. The court of civil appeals has exclusive appellate jurisdiction in all suits involving sums up to $10,000. Its three judges are elected for six-year terms, and the one who has served the longest is the presiding judge. The five judges of the court of criminal appeals are also elected for six-year terms; they choose the presiding judge by majority vote.

Circuit courts, which encompassed 131 judgeships in 1999, have exclusive original jurisdiction over civil actions involving sums of more than $5,000, and over criminal prosecutions involving felony offenses. They also have original jurisdiction, concurrent with the district courts, in all civil matters exceeding $500. They have appellate jurisdiction over most cases from district and municipal courts. A system of district courts staffed by judges who serve six-year terms replaced county and juvenile courts as of January 1977. Municipal court judges are appointed by the municipality.

As of 31 December 2004, a total of 25,887 prisoners were held in Alabama's state and federal prisons, a decrease (from 27,913) of 7.3% from the previous year. As of year-end 2004, a total of 1,748 inmates were female, down 12.7% (from 2,003) the year before. Among sentenced prisoners (one year or more), Alabama had an incarceration rate of 556 per 100,000 population.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Alabama in 2004 had a violent crime rate (murder/nonnegligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; aggravated assault) of 426.6 reported incidents per 100,000 population, or a total of 19,324 reported incidents. Crimes against property (burglary; larceny/theft; and motor vehicle theft) in that same year totaled 182,340 reported incidents or 4,025 reported incidents per 100,000 people. Alabama has a death penalty, which can be carried out by lethal injection or electrocution, depending upon the prisoner's request. From 1976 through May 2006, the state executed 34 persons; there were four executions in 2005. There were no executions from January to April 2006. As of 1 January 2006, there were 190 inmates on death row.

In 2003, Alabama spent $261,678,684 on homeland security, an average of $57 per state resident.

ARMED FORCES

The US Department of Defense had 11,845 active military personnel in Alabama in 2004, and civilian personnel numbered 15,789. The major installation in terms of expenditures was the US Army's Redstone Arsenal at Huntsville. Redstone is the center of the Army's missile and rocket programs and contains the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which directs all private contractors for the space program. Among the spacecraft developed there were the Redstone rocket, which launched the first US astronaut; Explorer I, the first US earth-orbiting satellite; and the Saturn rocket, which boosted the Apollo missions to the moon. In 2004, Redstone had 8,753 civilian employees, the highest number in the state. Other installations include Ft. Rucker (near Enterprise); the Anniston Army Depot; Maxwell Air Force Base (Montgomery), site of the US Air University and Air War Colleges, and national headquarters for the Civil Air Patrol; and Gunter Air Force Base (also in Montgomery). The most military personnel in the state, 5,801, were stationed at Ft. Rucker (Army) in 2004. Reserve and National Guard numbered 4,577. During 2004, Alabama firms received defense contract awards totaling over $5.8 billion. That year the Defense Department payroll was about $3.2 billion, including retired military pay.

There were 426,322 veterans of US military service in Alabama as of 2003, of whom 50,383 served in World War II; 47,411 in the Korean conflict; 124,673 during the Vietnam era; and 71,523 in the Gulf War. In 2004, the Veterans Administration expended more than $1.3 billion in pensions, medical assistance, and other major veterans' benefits.

As of 31 October 2004, the Alabama Department of Public Safety employed 680 full-time sworn officers.

MIGRATION

After 1814, Alabama was the mecca of a great migratory wave, mainly of whites of English and Scotch-Irish descent (some with their black slaves) from Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Since the Civil War, migration to Alabama has been slight. Many blacks left Alabama from World War I (1914–18) through the 1960s to seek employment in the East and Midwest, and the proportion of blacks in Alabama's population fell from 35% in 1940 to 26% in 1998, where it remained through mid-2002. Overall, Alabama may have lost as many as 944,000 residents through migration between 1940 and 1970, but enjoyed a net gain from migration of over 143,000 between 1970 and 1990, and an additional 114,000 in domestic and 13,000 in international migration between 1990 and 1998. In the period 2000–05, net international migration was 25,936 and net internal migration was 10,521, for a net gain of 36,457 people.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION

Among the interstate compacts and commissions in which Alabama participates are the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, Interstate Mining Compact Commission, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact, Southeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact, Southern Growth Policies Board, Southern Regional Education Board, Historic Chattahoochee Compact, and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority. In 1997, the state began two new water resources projects: the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) River Basin Compact between Alabama and Georgia, and the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin Compact among Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. The Office of State Planning and Federal Programs coordinates planning efforts by all levels of government. During fiscal year 2005, Alabama received federal grants amounting to $5.22 billion. For fiscal year 2006, federal grants to Alabama were estimated at $5.205 billion, and for fiscal year 2007, at $5.383 billion.

ECONOMY

Cotton dominated Alabama's economy from the mid-1800s to the 1870s, when large-scale industrialization began. The coal, iron, and steel industries were the first to develop, followed by other resource industries such as textiles, clothing, paper, and wood products. Although Alabama's prosperity has increased, particularly in recent decades, the state still lags in wage rates and per capi-ta income. One factor that has hindered the growth of the state's economy is declining investment in resource industries owned by large corporations outside the state. Between 1974 and 1983, manufacturing grew at little more than half the rate of all state goods and services. Industries such as primary metals and apparel, once mainstays of Alabama's economy, were clearly losing importance.

In 2004, Alabama's gross state product (GSP) was $139.8 billion, of which manufacturing (durable and nondurable goods) accounted for $23.4 billion or 16.7% of GSP, followed by real estate, rental, and leasing at $14.3 billion or 10.2% of GSP, and health care and social assistance at $9.668 billion or 6.9% of GSP. As Alabama's traditional industries have declined, the role played by small business as an engine for economic growth has increased. As of 2004, of the 86,651 businesses that had employees, an estimated 84,277 or 97.3% were small businesses. However, new business creation did not offset business terminations that year. While an estimated 9,413 new employer businesses were created in 2004, up 4.4% from 2003, business terminations that same year totaled 10,104. There were 325 business bankruptcies in 2004, up 13.2% from the previous year. In 2005, Alabama had one of the nation's highest overall personal bankruptcy filings rates, at 939 (Chapter 7 and Chapter 13) per 100,000 people, ranking the state at number two, behind Tennessee.

INCOME

In 2005 Alabama had a gross state product (GSP) of $150 billion which accounted for 1.2% of the nation's gross domestic product and placed the state at number 25 in highest GSP among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2004 Alabama had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $27,695. This ranked 41st in the United States and was 84% of the national average of $33,050. The 1994–2004 average annual growth rate of PCPI was 4.1%. Total personal income (TPI) was $125,329,964,000, which ranked 24th in the United States and represented an increase of 5.7% from 2003, compared to a national change of 6.0%. The 1994–2004 average annual growth rate of TPI was 4.7%. Earnings of persons employed in Alabama increased from $87,574,951,000 in 2003 to $93,039,492,000 in 2004, an increase of 6.2%. The 2003–04 national change was 6.3%.

The US Census Bureau reports that the three-year average median household income for 2002 to 2004 in 2004 dollars was $38,111, compared to a national average of $44,473. During the same period an estimated 15.5% of the population was living below the poverty line, as compared to 12.4% nationwide.

LABOR

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in April 2006 the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in Alabama numbered 2,173,500, with approximately 78,500 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 3.6%, compared to the national average of 4.7% for the same period. Preliminary data for the same period placed nonfarm employment at 1,975,700. Since the beginning of the BLS data series in 1976, the highest unemployment rate recorded in Alabama was 14.4% in December 1982. The historical low was 3.3% in March 2006. Preliminary nonfarm employment data by occupation for April 2006 showed that approximately 5.6% of the labor force was employed in construction; 19.4% in trade, transportation, and public utilities; 4.9% in financial activities; 10.9% in professional and business services; 10.3% in education and health services; 8.5% in leisure and hospitality services; and 18.4% in government. Data for manufacturing was not available.

In 1871, James Thomas Rapier, a black Alabamian who would later serve a term as a US representative from the state, organized the first black labor union in the South, the short-lived Labor Union of Alabama. The Knights of Labor began organizing in the state in 1882. A serious obstacle to unionization and collective bargaining was the convict leasing system, which was not ended officially until 1923, and in practice, not until five years later. In 1888, the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Co. (later taken over by US Steel) was granted an exclusive 10-year contract to use the labor of all state convicts, paying the state $9-18 per person per month.

Child labor was also exploited. Alabama had limited a child's working day to eight hours in 1887, but a Massachusetts company that was building a large mill in the state secured the repeal of that law in 1895. A weaker measure passed 12 years later limited a child's workweek to 60 hours and set the minimum working age at 12.

The US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2005, a total of 195,000 of Alabama's 1,909,000 employed wage and salary workers were formal members of a union. This represented 10.2% of those so employed, up from 9.7% in 2004, but below the national average of 12%. Overall in 2005, a total of 223,000 workers (11.7%) in Alabama were covered by a union or employee association contract, which includes those workers who reported no union affiliation. Alabama is one of 22 states with a right-to-work law. Unions were especially strong in the northern industrial cities and in Mobile.

As of 1 March 2006, Alabama did not have a state-mandated minimum wage law, leaving employees in that state to be covered under federal minimum wage statutes. In 2004, women in the state accounted for 46.6% of the employed civilian labor force.

AGRICULTURE

Alabama ranked 25th among the 50 states in farm marketing in 2005 with $3.89 billion, of which only $716 million came from crops.

There was considerable diversity in Alabama's earliest agriculture. By the mid-19th century, however, cotton had taken over, and production of other crops dropped so much that corn and other staples, even work animals, were often imported. In 1860, cotton was grown in every county, and one-crop agriculture had already worn out much of Alabama's farmland.

Diversification began early in the 20th century, a trend accelerated by the destructive effects of the boll weevil on cotton growing. In 2004, only 595,000 acres (223,000 hectares) were planted in cotton, compared to 3,500,000 acres (1,400,000 hectares) in 1930. As of 2004 there were some 44,000 farms in Alabama, occupying approximately 8.7 million acres (3.5 million hectares), or roughly 30% of the state's land area. Soybeans and livestock are raised in the Black Belt; peanuts in the southeast; vegetables, livestock, and timber in the southwest; and cotton and soybeans in the Tennessee River Valley.

In 2004, Alabama ranked third in the United States in production of peanuts, with 557,200,000 lb (253,273,000 kg), worth about $10,311,000. Other crops included soybeans, 6,650,000 bushels, $36,243,000; corn for fresh market, 23.9 million bushels, $57,564,000; wheat, 2,880,000 bushels, $10,224,000; tomatoes for fresh market, 342,000 hundredweight (15.5 million kg), $11,901,000; sweet potatoes, 380,000 hundredweight (17.3 million kg), $7.9 million; and pecans, 1,000,000 lb (450,000 kg), $1.3 million. The 2004 cotton crop of 820,000 bales was valued at $205,066,000.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

The principal livestock-raising regions of Alabama are the far north, the southwest, and the Black Belt, where the lime soil provides excellent pasturage. In 2003 Alabama produced an estimated 522.2 million lb (237.4 million kg) of cattle and calves, valued at $371.5 million, and an estimated 48.7 million lb (22.1 million kg) of hogs, valued at $20 million. There were 1,360,000 cattle and an estimated 180,000 hogs and pigs on Alabama farms and ranches in 2004. According to preliminary figures, 18,000 milk cows yielded 252 million lb (114.5 million kg) of milk in 2003.

Alabama is a leading producer of chickens, broilers, and eggs. In broiler production, the state was surpassed only by Georgia and Arkansas in 2003, with an estimated 5.4 billion lb (2.5 billion kg), valued at $1.8 billion. That year, Alabama ranked fourth in chicken production, with over 76.38 million lb (34.7 million kg), worth $5.2 million. Egg production totaled 2.19 billion, worth $295.6 million.

FISHING

In 2004, Alabama's commercial fish catch was about 26.6 million lb (12.1 million kg), worth $37 million. The principal fishing port is Bayou La Batre, which brought in about 19.1 million lb (8.7 million kg), worth $28.4 million. Alabama ranked fifth in the Gulf region for volume of shrimp landings with a total of 16.1 million lb (7.3 million kg).

Catfish farming is of growing importance. As of January 2005, there were 230 catfish farms (down from 370 in 1990) covering 25,100 acres (10,200 hectares) of water surface, with an average farm size of about 109 acres (44 hectares). In early 2006, Alabama growers had an inventory of 302.4 million stocker-size and 166 million fingerling/fry catfish.

As of 2003, there were 69 processing and 26 wholesaling plants in the state, with a combined total of about 1,649 employees. The commercial fishing fleet had about 1,775 boats and vessels in 2001.

There were 486,877 sport fishing licenses issued in Alabama in 2004.

FORESTRY

Forestland in Alabama, predominantly pine, covering 22,981,000 acres (9,302,000 hectares), was over 3% of the nation's total in 2004. Nearly all of that was classified as commercial timberland, and 21,757,000 acres (8,805,000 hectares) privately owned. Four national forests covered a gross acreage of 1,288,000 acres (521,250 hectares) in 2003. Production of softwood and hardwood lumber totaled 2.72 billion board feet in 2004 (seventh in the United States).

Alabama has a program in place, called TREASURE Forest, to recognize and certify sustainable forestry management on private lands. This program has already certified over 1.57 million acres (635,000 hectares).

MINING

In 2004, Alabama's nonfuel mineral output was valued at $972 million, according to the US Geological Survey, and consisted entirely of industrial minerals. This was an 8% increase from 2003 and followed a 6.8% increase from 2002 to 2003, making the state 18th out of the 50 states in nonfuel mineral production. In 2004, the state accounted for over 2% of all nonfuel mineral production in the United States. The top four nonfuel mineral commodities in 2004 (by value) were cement, crushed stone, lime, and construction grade sand and gravel. These four products accounted for almost 93% of nonfuel mineral output, with cement and crushed stone alone accounting for 69% of production.

According to figures for 2004, Alabama produced: 4.8 million metric tons of portland cement valued at an estimated $320 million; 2.12 million metric tons of common clay worth $29.6 million; 49.1 million metric tons of crushed stone valued at $303 million; 2.280 million metric tons of lime valued at $164 million; and 14.7 million metric tons construction sand and gravel valued at $65.3 million.

Other industrial minerals produced in the state included chalk, building stone (limestone and sandstone), bauxite clays, salt (solution recovery), silicon, and recovered sulfur.

ENERGY AND POWER

As of 2003, Alabama had 63 electrical power service providers, of which 36 were publicly owned and 23 were cooperatives. Of the remainder, one was federally operated, while the other was investor owned. As of that same year there were nearly 2.340 million retail customers. Of that total, over 1.363 million received their power from the state's only investor-owned service provider. Cooperatives accounted for 499,615 customers, while publicly owned providers had 476,247 customers.

Total net summer generating capability by the state's electrical generating plants in 2003 stood at 30.162 million kW, with total production that same year at 137.487 billion kWh. Of the total amount generated, 92.3% came from electric utilities, with the remainder coming from independent producers and combined heat and power service providers. The largest portion of all electric power generated, 76.696 billion kWh (55.8%), came from coal-fired plants, with nuclear fueled plants in second place at 31.676 billion kWh (23%).

As of 2006, Alabama had two operating nuclear power plants: the Browns Ferry plant, which is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Joseph M Farley facility, which is operated by the Alabama Power Company's wholly owned subsidiary, the Southern Nuclear Operations Company.

Significant petroleum finds in southern Alabama date from the early 1950s. As of 2004, the state had proven crude oil reserves of 53 million barrels, or less than 1% of all US reserves, while output that same year averaged 20,000 barrels per day. Including federal offshore domains, Alabama that year ranked 18th (17th excluding federal offshore) in reserves and 16th (15th excluding federal offshore) among the 31 producing states. In 2004 Alabama had 824 producing oil wells, accounting for less than 1% of all US production. As of 2005, the state's three refineries had a combined crude oil distillation capacity of 113,500 barrels per day.

In 2004, Alabama had 5,526 producing natural gas and gas condensate wells. In that same year, marketed gas production (all gas produced excluding gas used for repressuring, vented and flared, and nonhydrocarbon gases removed) totaled 316 billion cu ft (8.9 billion cu m). As of 31 December 2004, proven reserves of dry or consumer-grade natural gas totaled 4,120 billion cu ft (117 billion cu m).

Alabama in 2004, had 49 producing coal mines, 41 of which were surface mines and 8 were underground. Coal production that same year totaled 22,271,000 short tons, up from 20,118,000 short tons in 2003. Of the total produced, underground mines in 2004 accounted for 16,114,000 short tons. Recoverable coal reserves in 2004 totaled 341 million short tons. One short ton equals 2,000 lb (0.907 metric tons).

INDUSTRY

Alabama's manufacturing boom began in the 1870s with the exploitation of the coal and iron fields in the north, which quickly transformed Birmingham into the leading industrial city in the South, producing pig iron more cheaply than its American and English competitors. An important stimulus to manufacturing in the north was the development of ports and power plants along the Tennessee River. Although Birmingham remains highly dependent on steel, the state's manufacturing sector has diversified considerably since World War II (1939–45).

According to the US Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) for 2004, Alabama's manufacturing sector covered some 20 product subsectors. The shipment value of all products manufactured in the state that same year was $76.095 billion. Of that total, the manufacturing of transportation equipment accounted for the largest portion, at $10.047 billion. It was followed by chemical manufacturing at $8.557 billion, primary metal manufacturing at $8.322 billion, food manufacturing at $8.019 billion, and paper manufacturing at $6.211 billion.

In 2004, a total of 259,058 people in Alabama were employed in the state's manufacturing sector, according to the ASM. Of that total, 200,645 were production workers. In terms of total employment, the food manufacturing industry accounted for the largest portion of all manufacturing employees at 35,549, with 28,186 actual production workers. It was followed by transportation equipment manufacturing with 26,868 employees (21,304 actual production workers); fabricated metal product manufacturing with 23,394 employees (17,211 actual production workers); wood product manufacturing with 19,269 employees (15,409 actual production workers); plastics and rubber products manufacturing with 17,136 employees (14,036 actual production workers); and primary metal manufacturing with 16,438 employees (12,764 actual production workers).

ASM data for 2004 showed that Alabama's manufacturing sector paid $9.357 billion in wages. Of that amount, the transportation equipment manufacturing sector accounted for the largest portion at $1.145 billion. It was followed by food manufacturing at $880.272 million; fabricated metal product manufacturing at $868.126 million; primary metal manufacturing at $805.290 million; and paper manufacturing at $709.987 million.

COMMERCE

According to the 2002 Census of Wholesale Trade, Alabama's wholesale trade sector had sales that year totaling $43.6 billion from 5,747 establishments. Wholesalers of durable goods accounted for 3,800 establishments, followed by nondurable goods wholesalers at 1,579 and electronic markets, agents, and brokers accounting for 376 establishments. Sales by durable goods wholesalers in 2002 totaled $16.4 billion, while wholesalers of nondurable goods saw sales of $22.3 billion. Electronic markets, agents, and brokers in the wholesale trade industry had sales of $4.8 billion.

In the 2002 Census of Retail Trade, Alabama was listed as having 19,608 retail establishments with sales of $43.7 billion. The leading types of retail businesses by number of establishments were: gasoline stations (2,978); motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts dealers (2,643); clothing and clothing accessory stores (2,379); and food and beverage stores (1,996). In terms of sales, motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts stores accounted for the largest share of retail sales at $11.9 billion, followed by general merchandise stores at $7.6 billion; food and beverage stores at $6.08 billion; and gasoline stations at $4.3 billion. A total of 222,416 people were employed in the retail sector in Alabama for that year.

Exporters located in Alabama exported $10.7 billion in merchandise during 2005.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

The Office of Consumer Affairs, established in 1972, was transferred to the Office of the Attorney General in 1979. The major duties of the office are to enforce the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act and other criminal and civil laws to combat consumer fraud, and to offer programs in consumer education. In response to a myriad of inquiries, complaints, and fraudulent schemes, recent attorneys general have expanded the division's role in their administrations, and it has become one of the most effective arms of the attorney general's law enforcement efforts. The Office of Consumer Affairs also acts as a mediator or negotiator in response to approximately 3,000 consumer complaints received each year, three-quarters of which are registered by residents over age 65.

When dealing with consumer protection issues, the state's Attorney General's Office can initiate civil and criminal proceedings; represent the state before state and federal regulatory agencies; administer consumer protection and education programs; handle formal consumer complaints; and exercise broad subpoena powers. In antitrust actions, the Attorney General's Office can act on behalf of those consumers who are incapable of acting on their own; initiate damage actions on behalf of the state in state courts; and initiate criminal proceedings. However, the state's Attorney General cannot represent counties, cities and other governmental entities in recovering civil damages under state or federal law.

The Office of the Attorney General's Office of Consumer Affairs is located in the state capitol of Montgomery.

BANKING

As of June 2005, Alabama had 160 insured banks, savings and loans, and saving banks, in addition to 71 state-chartered and 88 federally chartered credit unions (CUs). Excluding the CUs, the Birmington-Hoover market area accounted for the largest portion of the state's financial institutions and deposits in 2004, with 41 institutions and $19.824 billion in deposits. As of June 2005, CUs accounted for 4.7% of all assets held by all financial institutions in the state, or some $10.704 billion. Banks, savings and loans, and savings banks collectively accounted for the remaining 95.3%, or $214.840 billion in assets held.

The median net interest margin (NIM—the difference between the lower rates offered to savers and the higher rates charged on loans) of the state's insured institutions in fourth quarter 2005 stood at 4.25%, up from 4.12% for all of 2004 and 4.02% for all of 2003. The median percentage of past-due/nonaccrual loans compared to total loans stood at 1.59% as of fourth quarter 2005, down from 1.99% for all of 2004 and 2.68% for all of 2003.

The regulation of Alabama's state-chartered banks and other state-chartered financial institutions is the responsibility of the Alabama Banking Department.

INSURANCE

In 2004 there were 6.2 million individual life insurance policies in force with a total value of $188.7 billion; total value for all categories of life insurance (individual, group, and credit) was $283.5 billion. The average coverage amount is $30,300 per policy holder. Death benefits paid that year totaled $986.2 million.

As of 2003, there were 22 property and casualty and 16 life and health insurance companies incorporated or organized in the state. In 2004, direct premiums for property and casualty insurance amounted to about $5.95 billion. That year, there were 41,912 flood insurance policies in force in the state, with a total value of $5.87 billion. There were also 3,169 beach and windstorm insurance policies in force against hurricane and other windstorm damage, with a total value of $317.69 million.

In 2004, 55% of state residents held employment-based health insurance policies, 3% held individual policies, and 26% were covered under Medicare and Medicaid; 14% of residents were uninsured. In 2003, employee contributions for employment-based health coverage averaged about 20% for single coverage and 28% for family coverage. Alabama does not offer extended health benefits in connection with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA, 1986), a health insurance extension program for those who lose employment-based coverage due to termination or reduction of work hours.

In 2003, there were over 3 million auto insurance policies in effect for private passenger cars. Required minimum coverage includes bodily injury liability of up to $20,000 per individual and $40,000 for all persons injured, as well as property damage liability of $10,000. In 2003, the average expenditure per vehicle for insurance coverage was $655.42.

SECURITIES

Alabama has no securities exchanges. In 2005, there were 1,050 personal financial advisers employed in the state and 1,580 securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents. In 2004, there were over 59 publicly traded companies within the state, with over 28 NASDAQ companies, 17 NYSE listings, and 4 AMEX listings. In 2006, the state had two Fortune 500 companies; Regions Financial ranked first in the state and 354th in the nation with revenues of over $6.1 billion, followed by Saks. AmSouth Bancorp, Vulcan Materials, and Torchmark were in the Fortune 1,000. All five of these NYSE companies are based in Birmingham.

PUBLIC FINANCE

The Division of the Budget within the Department of Finance prepares and administers the state budget, which the governor submits to the legislature for amendment and approval. The fiscal year runs from 1 October through 30 September, making Alabama one of only four states in which the fiscal year (FY) does not begin in July. General funds for fiscal year 2006 were estimated

at nearly $7.8 billion for resources and $6.7 billion for expenditures. In fiscal year 2004, federal government grants to Alabama were $7.0 billion. For fiscal year 2007, federal funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and the HOME Investment Partnership Program was increased.

TAXATION

In 2005, Alabama collected $7,800 million in tax revenues, or $1,711 per capita, which placed it 44th among the 50 states in per capita tax burden. The national average was $2,192 per capita. Property taxes accounted for 3.0% of the total, sales taxes 26.1%, selective sales taxes 25.1%, individual income taxes 32.5%, corporate income taxes 5.1%, and other taxes 8.3%.

As of 1 January 2006, Alabama had three individual income tax brackets ranging from 2.0 to 5.0%. The state taxes corporations at a flat rate of 6.5%.

In 2004, state and local property taxes amounted to $1,440,385,000, or $367 per capita. The per capita amount ranks the state as having the lowest property taxes in the nation. Local governments collected $1,440,385,000 of the total and the state government, $221,470,000.

Alabama taxes retail sales at a rate of 4%. In addition to the state tax, local taxes on retail sales can reach as much as 7%, making for a potential total tax on retail sales of 11%. Food purchased for consumption off-premises is taxable. The tax on cigarettes is 42.5 cents per pack, which ranks 39th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Alabama taxes gasoline at 18 cents per gallon. This is in addition to the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax on gasoline.

According to the Tax Foundation, for every federal tax dollar sent to Washington in 2004, Alabama citizens received $1.71 in federal spending, which ranks the state sixth-highest nationally.

ECONOMIC POLICY

Alabama seeks to attract out-of-state business by means of tax incentives and plant-building assistance. The Alabama Development Office (ADO) plans for economic growth through industrial development. It also extends loans, issues bonds, and offers other forms of financing to growing companies, to firms that create permanent jobs, and to small businesses. The International Trade Division of the ADO provides a variety of services to help Alabama companies export. In 1987 the Alabama Enterprise Zone Program was passed. As of 2006, 27 Enterprise Zones had been authorized across the state in areas considered to have depressed economies, each zone offering packages of local tax and nontax incentives to encourage businesses to locate in the area. As of 2006, qualified new and expanding businesses in eligible industries were able to receive a corporate income tax credit of up to 5% of capital costs per year for up to 20 years. Small businesses may qualify if they create 15 jobs and invest $1 million. Other new projects or expansions qualify if they create 20 jobs and invest $2 million. All companies must pay wages of at least $8 an hour or have an average total compensation of $10 per hour. Alabama's target industries in 2006 were automobiles, aviation, electronics, plastics, and wood and wood products. The Alabama Industrial Development Training Institute, within the Department of Education, provides job training especially designed to suit the needs of high-technology industries. Alabama offers zero-interest loans and grants to rural economic development projects. In an effort to attract new industries or help existing companies grow, the state helps counties and municipalities pay for site improvements, and assists communities in financing infrastructures such as water and sewer lines or access roads. The Alabama Commerce Commission promotes legislation that protects and nurtures the Alabamian economy, including infrastructural projects on the state's roads, bridges, and docks. In 2000, the Alabama Commission on Environmental Initiatives was created by executive order and charged with developing a program for improving the environmental quality of the state. In 2002, a Brownfields Redevelopment Program was introduced.

In September 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which devastated the Gulf Coast region, President George W. Bush announced he would create a Gulf Opportunity Zone for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Businesses would be able to double (to $200,000) the amount they could deduct from their taxes for investments in new equipment. The act also provided a 50% bonus depreciation and made loan guarantees available. Congress passed the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act in December 2005, providing a number of tax incentives to encourage the rebuilding of areas ravaged by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.

HEALTH

The infant mortality rate in October 2005 was estimated at 8.8 per 1,000 live births. The birth rate in 2003 was 13.2 per 1,000 population. The abortion rate stood at 14.3 per 1,000 women in 2000. In 2003, about 83.8% of pregnant woman received prenatal care beginning in the first trimester. In 2004, approximately 82% of children received routine immunizations before the age of three.

The crude death rate in 2003 was 10.4 deaths per 1,000 population, representing the highest rate in the nation for that year. As of 2002, the death rates for all the major causes of death were higher than the national averages. The rates that year (per 100,000 resident population) were: heart disease, 294.1; cancer, 216.2; cerebrovascular diseases, 71.3; diabetes, 33.1; and chronic lower respiratory diseases, 51.9. The mortality rate from HIV infection was 4.2 per 100,000 population, lower than the national average of 4.9 per 100,000 population for 2002. In 2004, the reported AIDS case rate was about 10.3 per 100,000 population. In 2002, about 61% of the population was considered overweight or obese, representing the second-highest percentage in the nation (following West Virginia). As of 2004, Alabama ranked seventh in the nation for the percentage of smokers, with about 24.8%.

In 2003, Alabama had 107 community hospitals with about 15,600 beds. There were about 709,000 patient admissions that year and 8.9 million outpatient visits. The average daily inpatient census was about 9,700 patients. The average cost per day for hospital care was $1,166. Also in 2003, there were about 228 certified nursing facilities in the state, with 26,369 beds and an overall occupancy rate of about 89.4%. In 2004, it was estimated that about 69.2% of all state residents had received some type of dental care within the year. Alabama had 216 physicians per 100,000 resident population in 2004 and 818 nurses per 100,000 in 2005. In 2004, there was a total of 1,971 dentists in the state.

About 26% of state residents was enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare programs in 2004. Approximately 14% of the state was uninsured in 2004. In 2003, state health care expenditures totaled $5 million.

SOCIAL WELFARE

In 2004, about 119,000 people received unemployment benefits, with an average weekly unemployment benefit of $177. In fiscal year 2005, the estimated average monthly participation in the food stamp program included about 558,596 persons (222,132 households); the average monthly benefit was about $91.91 per person. That year, the total benefits paid through the state for the food stamp program was about $616 million.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the system of federal welfare assistance that officially replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1997, was reauthorized through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. TANF is funded through federal block grants that are divided among the states based on an equation involving the number of recipients in each state. Alabama's TANF program is called the Family Assistance Program (FA). In 2004 the state program had 45,000 recipients; state and federal expenditures on this TANF program in fiscal year 2003 totaled $50 million.

In December 2004, Social Security benefits were paid to 884,410 Alabamians. This number included 484,310 retired workers, 98,650 widows and widowers, 159,300 disabled workers, 47,110 spouses, and 95,040 children. Social Security beneficiaries represented 19.5% of the total state population and 92.6% of the state's population age 65 and older. Retired workers received an average monthly payment of $912; widows and widowers, $823; disabled workers, $866; and spouses, $451. Payments for children of retired workers averaged $458 per month; children of deceased workers, $590; and children of disabled workers, $261. Also in December 2004, Federal Supplemental Security Income payments went to 163,002 Alabama residents, averaging $374 a month. About $26,000 of state-administered supplemental payments was distributed to 434 residents.

HOUSING

In 2004, there were an estimated 2,058,951 housing units in Alabama, of which 1,755,332 were occupied. In the same year, about 71.9% of all housing units were owner-occupied. It was estimated that about 96,954 households across the state were without telephone service, 6,757 lacked complete plumbing facilities, and 5,212 lacked complete kitchen facilities. About 67.3% of all housing units were detached, single-family homes; 14.6% were mobile homes. The average household had 2.51 members.

Approximately 27,400 new privately owned units were authorized in 2004. The median home value that year was $94,671. The median monthly housing cost for mortgage owners was $872, while the median cost for renters was $519. In September 2005, the state was awarded grants of $299,963 from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for rural housing and economic development programs. For 2006, HUD allocated to the state over $25.8 million in community development block grants. Also in 2006, HUD offered an additional $74 million to the state in emergency funds to rebuild housing that was destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma in late 2005.

The Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, near Point Clear, was founded in 1893 by individuals seeking to put into practice the economic theories of Henry George. Incorporated under Alabama law in 1904, this oldest and largest of US single-tax experiments continues to lease land in return for the payment of a rent (the "single tax") based on the land's valuation; the combined rents are used to pay taxes and to provide and improve community services.

EDUCATION

In 2004, 82.4% of Alabamians age 25 and older were high school graduates. Some 22.3% had obtained a bachelor's degree or higher.

The total enrollment for fall 2002 in Alabama's public schools stood at 740,000. Of these, 534,000 attended schools from kindergarten through grade eight, and 206,000 attended high school. Approximately 59.9% of the students were white, 36.4% were black, 2.1% were Hispanic, 0.9% were Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.8% were American Indian/Alaskan Native. Total enrollment was estimated at 734,000 in fall 2003 and was expected to be 709,000 by fall 2014, a decline of 4.1% during the period 2002 to 2014. There were 73,105 students enrolled in 408 private schools in fall 2003. Expenditures for public education in 2003/04 were estimated at $5.4 billion. Since 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tested public school students nationwide. The resulting report, The Nation's Report Card, stated that eighth graders in Alabama scored 262 out of 500 in 2005 compared with the national average of 278.

As of fall 2002, there were 246,414 students enrolled in college or graduate school. Minority students comprised 31.5% of total postsecondary enrollment that same year. As of 2005, Alabama had 75 degree-granting institutions. The largest state universities are Auburn University and the three University of Alabama campuses, including Birmingham, Huntsville, and the main campus in Tuscaloosa. Tuskegee University, founded as a normal and industrial school in 1881 under the leadership of Booker T. Washington, has become one of the nation's most famous predominantly black colleges.

ARTS

The Alabama State Council on the Arts, established by the legislature in 1966, provides aid to local nonprofit arts organizations. The Alabama Humanities Foundation was established in 1974. In 2005, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded 10 grants totaling $1,020,965 to Alabama organizations and the National Endowment for the Arts awarded 18 grants totaling $910,100 to Alabama arts organizations. The Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, established in 1990, works in conjunction with the state council to promote and preserve local arts and culture. The Alabama Jazz and Blues Federation, also established in 1990, has been very active in offering monthly jam sessions for artists, an annual summer festival, and several concerts throughout the year.

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival State Theater performs in Montgomery and as of 2006 was noted as the sixth-largest Shakespeare festival worldwide. The festival hosts over 300,000 annual visitors that travel from over 60 countries and all 50 states. The Birmingham International Festival (BIF) was founded in 1951 and works to promote mutual understanding among cultures through art, education, and economic development programs. Working to fulfill their mission the BIF highlights a different country each year.

Alabama is also home to the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, and the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra. Among several dance organizations in the state, the Alabama Ballet, founded in 1981, is notable for establishing a professional affiliation with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, thus expanding opportunities for both students and audiences of dance.

As of 2006, the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention was held annually in October at Athens State College. The annual event began in mid-1960s, showcasing "old time" music. Every June, the annual Hank Williams Memorial Celebration is held near the country singer's birthplace at the Olive West Community. As of 2006, there were opera groups in both Huntsville and Mobile.

LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

For the fiscal year ending September 2001, Alabama had 207 public library systems, with a total of 283 libraries, of which 77 were branches. The state's public libraries that same year had a combined total of 8,801,000 volumes of books and serial publications, and a total circulation of 15,988,000. The system also had 269,000 audio and 244,000 video items, 8,000 electronic format items (CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, and disks), and 17 bookmobiles. The University of Alabama had 1,896,687 volumes, while the Birmingham Public Library had 19 branches and 973,936 volumes. The Alabama Department of Archives and History Library, at Montgomery, had 260,000 volumes and several special collections on Alabama history and government. Collections on aviation and space exploration in Alabama's libraries, particularly its military libraries, may be the most extensive in the United States outside of Washington, DC. In 1997 the Alabama Public Library Service and its regional library for the blind and physically handicapped had over 480,000 books, videos, and audiotapes, including more than 25,000 books in Braille. Memorabilia of Wernher von Braun are in the library at the Alabama Space and Rocket Center at Huntsville; the Redstone Arsenal's Scientific Information Center holds over 227,000 volumes and 1,800,000 technical reports. Total income for the public library system in 2003 was $64,927,000, including $908,978 in federal grants and $4,479,963 in state grants. State libraries spent 64.2% of that income on staff.

Alabama had 81 museums in 2000. The most important art museum is the Birmingham Museum of Art. Other museums include the George Washington Carver Museum at Tuskegee Institute, the Women's Army Corps Museum and Military Police Corps Museum at Ft. McClellan, the US Army Aviation Museum at Ft. Rucker, the Pike Pioneer Museum at Troy, the Museum of the City of Mobile, and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. Also in Montgomery are Old Alabama Town and the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald home. Russell Cave National Monument has an archaeological exhibit. In Florence is the W. C. Handy Home; at Tuscumbia, Helen Keller's birthplace, Ivy Green.

COMMUNICATIONS

In 2004, 92.2% of Alabama's occupied housing units had telephones. In addition, by June of that same year there were 2,301,847 mobile wireless telephone subscribers. In 2003, 53.9% of Alabama households had a computer and 45.7% had Internet access. By June 2005, there were 454,546 high-speed lines in Alabama, 408,937 residential and 45,609 for business. A total of 44,371 Internet domain names had been registered in Alabama by 2000.

During 2005, Alabama had 93 major operating radio stations (19 AM, 74 FM) and 22 major television stations. In 2000, 69% of television households in the Birmingham area subscribed to cable television.

PRESS

The earliest newspaper in Alabama, the short-lived Mobile Centinel (sic), made its first appearance on 23 May 1811. The oldest newspaper still in existence in the state is the Mobile Register, founded in 1813.

As of 2005 Alabama had 21 morning dailies; 3 evening dailies; and 20 Sunday papers. The following table shows the leading dailies with their 2005 circulations:

In 2005, there were 97 weekly publications in Alabama. Of these, 73 are paid weeklies, 3 are free weeklies, and 21 are combined weeklies. The total circulation of paid weeklies (416,280) and free weeklies (192,402) is 608,682. Of the combined weeklies in the United States, the Columbiana/Shelby counties Reporter ranked 25th with a circulation of 32,497.

ORGANIZATIONS

In 2006, there were over 2,900 nonprofit organizations registered within the state, of which 2,063 were registered as charitable, educational, or religious organizations. National associations with headquarters in Alabama include Civitan International in Birmingham; and Klanwatch and the Southern Poverty Law Center, both in Montgomery. The last-named is one of the major civil rights organizations active in Alabama, along with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The League of the South, a national organization founded in 1994 as a political, economic, and civil rights advocacy organization, has its national headquarters in Killen. Two branches of the Ku Klux Klan are also active in Alabama.

The American Council on Alcohol Problems is based in Birmingham, which also hosts the central offices of the fourth district of Alcoholics Anonymous World Wide Services.

State cultural organizations include the Alabama Historical Association and Alabama Preservation Alliance, both in Montgomery. Sports and recreation associations based in the state include the American Baseball Foundation, the National Speleological Society, the Kampground Owners Association, and the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society. Regional wildlife groups include the Alabama Mookee Association, the Alabama Santa Gertrudis Association, and the Alabama National Wild Turkey Federation, which has several chapters throughout the state.

TOURISM, TRAVEL, AND RECREATION

In 2004, some 20 million people visited Alabama, spending $5.5 billion. With a statewide impact of 157,000 jobs, tourism is an important industry for Alabama. An estimated 73% of all tourists choose destinations in one of six counties: Baldwin, Jefferson, Madison, Mobile, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa. In 2005, the number of visitors to Alabama increased as people fled Louisiana and Florida due to the severe hurricane season.

A top tourist attraction is the Alabama Space and Rocket Center at Huntsville, home of the US Space Camp. Other attractions include many antebellum houses and plantations: Magnolia Grove (a state shrine) at Greensboro; Gaineswood and Bluff Hall at Demopolis; Arlington in Birmingham; Oakleigh at Mobile; Sturdivant Hall at Selma; Shorter Mansion at Eufaula; and the first White House of the confederacy at Montgomery. Racing fans can visit the Talledega Super Speedway and the Motorsports Hall of Fame.

The celebration of Mardi Gras in Mobile, which began in 1704, predates that in New Orleans and now occupies several days before Ash Wednesday. Gulf beaches are a popular attraction and Point Clear, across the bay from Mobile, has been a fashionable resort, especially for southerners, since the 1840s. The state fair is held at Birmingham every October.

During 2004, Baldwin and Jefferson counties were the biggest tourist beneficiaries; home to Alabama's four national park sites, which include Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site and Russell Cave National Monument, an almost continuous archaeological record of human habitation from at least 7000 bc to about ad 1650. Tannehill Historical State Park features ante- and postbellum dwellings, a restored iron furnace over a century old, and a museum of iron and steel. There were some 500,000 visitors to Alabama's state parks that year.

The Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo at Dauphin Island also attracts thousands of visitors. Alabama's Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is a major tourist attraction, with seven championship courses located from Huntsville to Mobile.

SPORTS

Alabama is home to a number of professional teams in various sports. The Birmingham Power was a member of the National Women's Basketball League until 2005, and the Birmingham Steel-dogs are an Arena League 2 football squad. There are minor league baseball clubs in Birmingham, Mobile, and Huntsville, and minor league hockey teams in Birmingham, Huntsville, and Mobile. Two major professional stock car races, Aaron's 499 and the UAW-Ford 500, are held at the Talladega Speedway. Dog racing was legalized in Mobile in 1971. Four of the major hunting-dog competitions in the United States are held annually in the state.

Football reigns supreme among collegiate sports. The University of Alabama finished number one in 1961, 1964, 1965 (against Michigan State), 1978 (against University of Southern California), 1979, and 1992 and is a perennial top-10 entry. Competing in the Southeastern Conference, Alabama's Crimson Tide won the Sugar Bowl in 1962, 1964, 1967, 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1993; the Orange Bowl in 1943, 1953, 1963, and 1966; the Cotton Bowl in 1942 and 1981; the Sun Bowl in 1983 and 1988; and the Independence Bowl in 2001. The Crimson Tide have won a total of 12 national championships and 21 SEC titles. Auburn University, which also competes in the Southeastern Conference, won the Sugar Bowl in 1984; the Florida Citrus Bowl in 1982 and 1987; the Gator Bowl in 1954, 1971, and 1972; and the Sun Bowl in 1968. The Tigers have won 14 bowl games, 6 SEC titles, and have produced 2 Heisman trophy winners (Pat Sullivan and Bo Jackson). The Blue-Gray game, an all-star contest, is held at Montgomery on Christmas Day, and the Senior Bowl game is played in Mobile in January. Additionally, Alabama-Huntsville won National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II hockey championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998.

Boat races include the annual Dauphin Island Race, the largest one-day sailing race in the United States. The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame is located at Birmingham.

Some of the most notable athletes born in Alabama are Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Jesse Owens, and Bo Jackson.

FAMOUS ALABAMIANS

William Rufus De Vane King (b.North Carolina, 1786–1853) served as a US senator from Alabama and as minister to France before being elected US vice president in 1852 on the Democratic ticket with Franklin Pierce; he died six weeks after taking the oath of office. Three Alabamians who served as associate justices of the US Supreme Court were John McKinley (b.Virginia, 1780–1852), John A. Campbell (b.Georgia, 1811–89), and Hugo L. Black (1886–1971). Campbell resigned from the court in 1861, later becoming assistant secretary of war for the Confederacy; Black, a US senator from 1927 to 1937, served one of the longest terms (1937–71) in the history of the court and is regarded as one of its most eminent justices.

Among the most colorful figures in antebellum Alabama was William Lowndes Yancey (b.Georgia, 1814–63), a fiery orator who was a militant proponent of slavery, states' rights, and eventually secession. During the early 20th century, a number of Alabamians became influential in national politics. Among them were US senators John Hollis Bankhead (1842–1920) and John Hollis Bankhead Jr. (1872–1946); the latter's brother, William B. Bankhead (1874–1940), who became speaker of the US House of Representatives in 1936; and US Senator Oscar W. Underwood (b.Kentucky, 1862–1929), a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1912 and 1924. Other prominent US senators from Alabama have included (Joseph) Lister Hill (1894–1984) and John Sparkman (1899–1985), who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1952. Alabama's most widely known political figure is George Corley Wallace (1919–98), who served as governor in 1963–67 and 1971–79 and was elected to a fourth term in 1982. Wallace, an outspoken opponent of racial desegregation in the 1960s, was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1964; four years later, as the presidential nominee of the American Independent Party, he carried five states. While campaigning in Maryland's Democratic presidential primary on 15 May 1972, Wallace was shot and paralyzed from the waist down by a would-be assassin. In 1976, Wallace made his fourth and final unsuccessful bid for the presidency.

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (b.Georgia, 1929–68), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, first came to national prominence as leader of the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955; he also led demonstrations at Birmingham in 1963 and at Selma in 1965. His widow, Coretta Scott King (1927–2006), is a native Ala-bamian. Federal judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. (1918–99) has made several landmark rulings in civil rights cases.

Helen Keller (1880–1968), deaf and blind as the result of a childhood illness, was the first such multihandicapped person to earn a college degree; she later became a world-famous author and lecturer. Another world figure, black educator Booker T. Washington (b.Virginia, 1856–1915), built Alabama's Tuskegee Institute from a school where young blacks were taught building, farming, cooking, brickmaking, dressmaking, and other trades into an internationally known agricultural research center. Tuskegee's most famous faculty member was George Washington Carver (b.Missouri, 1864–1943), who discovered some 300 different peanut products, 118 new ways to use sweet potatoes, and numerous other crop varieties and applications. Among Alabama's leaders in medicine was Dr. William Crawford Gorgas (1854–1920), head of sanitation in Panama during the construction of the Panama Canal; he later served as US surgeon general. Brought to the United States after World War II (1939–45), the internationally known scientist Wernher von Braun (b.Germany, 1912–77) came to Alabama in 1950 to direct the US missile program.

Two Alabama writers, (Nelle) Harper Lee (b.1926) and Edward Osborne Wilson (b.1929), have won Pulitzer Prizes. Famous musicians from Alabama include blues composer and performer W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1873–1958), singer Nat "King" Cole (1917–65), and singer-songwriter Hank Williams (1923–53). Alabama's most widely known actress was Tallulah Bankhead (1903–68), the daughter of William B. Bankhead.

Among Alabama's sports figures are track and field star Jesse Owens (James Cleveland Owens, 1913–80), winner of four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin; boxer Joe Louis (Joseph Louis Barrow, 1914–81), world heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949; and baseball stars Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (1906?–82), Willie Mays (b.1931), and (Louis) Henry Aaron (b.1934), all-time US home-run leader.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arsenault, Raymond. Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

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