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

Alabama adopted new voting systems, such as cumulative voting and limited voting, in several jurisdictions. These changes resulted in more proportional representation and increased the number of African Americans and women elected to local offices.

Alabama hosts 420 bird species that spend at least part of their year in the state.

Hurricane Ivan, a category 3 storm upon landfall, struck Alabama in 2004, causing over $18 billion in damage. It was one of the most destructive storms in the state’s modern history.

Alabama’s economy shifted away from traditional industries like lumber, steel, and textiles due to increased foreign competition. New industries, such as technology and automobile manufacturing, emerged, with Huntsville benefiting from the opening of the George C. Marshall Space Flight ...Read more

During Reconstruction, Alabama was represented in Congress by three African-American congressmen: Jeremiah Haralson, Benjamin S. Turner, and James T. Rapier.

An 1842 article in the Jacksonville Republican proposed that “Alabama” meant ‘Here We Rest’, a notion popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek.

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

Some scholars suggest the word may come from the Choctaw alba (meaning ‘plants’ or ‘weeds’) and amo (meaning ‘to cut’, ‘to trim’, or ‘to gather’), potentially meaning ‘clearers of the thicket’ or ‘herb gatherers’.