Thomas Bassett was a loyalist to the British monarchy during the Revolutionary era and one of the earliest white settlers in Alabama outside Mobile. He settled in the Tombigbee District during the early 1770s.

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.

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’.

Alabama ranks fifth in the nation for the diversity of its flora, with nearly 4,000 pteridophyte and spermatophyte plant species.

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.

North Alabama is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes.

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.