Beginning in the 1940s, courts started to recognize the voting rights of black voters. Legal challenges, such as the one against the state constitutional amendment giving registrars greater latitude to disqualify voters, were successful in overturning some provisions designed to ...Read more

Despite progress, Alabama continues to face challenges related to racial discrimination, economic disparities, and underrepresentation of urban areas. The Black Belt region, home to many African Americans, remains economically disadvantaged.

Alabama passed various segregation laws, including segregating jails in 1911, hospitals in 1915, toilets, hotels, and restaurants in 1928, and bus stop waiting rooms in 1945.

The new voter registration laws, particularly the cumulative poll tax, also disenfranchised poor white voters. By 1941, whites constituted a slight majority of those disenfranchised by these laws, with 600,000 whites and 520,000 African Americans losing the ability to vote.

The Rosenwald Fund helped fund the construction of schools for African American children in Alabama. Between 1913 and 1937, 387 schools, seven teachers’ houses, and several vocational buildings were built with partial funding from the Rosenwald Fund.

The Great Migration led tens of thousands of African Americans from rural Alabama to seek opportunities in northern and midwestern cities, significantly affecting Alabama’s population growth rate from 1910 to 1920.

Alabama remained chiefly agricultural, with an economy tied to cotton. The state constitution of 1868 created Alabama’s first public school system and expanded women’s rights. Legislators funded public road and railroad projects, despite allegations of fraud and misappropriation.

The 1901 Constitution of Alabama included provisions for voter registration that effectively disenfranchised large portions of the population, including nearly all African Americans, Native Americans, and tens of thousands of poor European Americans. It also required racial segregation of ...Read more

Organized insurgent groups in Alabama included The Ku Klux Klan, the Pale Faces, Knights of the White Camellia, Red Shirts, and the White League.

Reconstruction in Alabama ended in 1874 when Democrats regained control of the legislature and governor’s office through an election dominated by fraud and violence. They wrote another constitution in 1875, passed the Blaine Amendment prohibiting public money from financing ...Read more