ShareThisAlabama Firsts, Facts, and Trivia
Alabama Famous Firsts, Alabama Interesting Facts, Alabama Trivia
Rosa'a Ride
In 1955 a black woman named Rosa Parks refused to
give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white passenger. Martin
Luther King, Jr. led a successful boycott of the city's public
transportation and brought the technique of passive resistance to
national prominence.
More Alabama Firsts, Facts, and Trivia
- Alabama introduced the Mardi Gras to the western world. The
celebration is held on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins.
- Alabama workers built the first rocket to put humans on the
moon.
- The world's first Electric Trolley System was introduced in
Montgomery in 1886.
- Alabama is the only state with all major natural resources
needed to make iron and steel. It is also the largest supplier of
cast-iron and steel pipe products.
- Montgomery is the capital and the birthplace of the Confederate
States of America.
- The Confederate flag was designed and first flown in Alabama in
1861.
- Alabama became the 22nd state on December 14, 1819.
- The town of Enterprise houses the Boll Weevil Monument to
acknowledge the role this destructive insect played in encouraging
farmers to grow crops other than cotton.
- Baseball player Henry Louis (Hank) Aaron was born in Mobile in
1934.
- Boxer Joe Louis was born in Lexington in 1914. He died in 1981.
- "Alabama" is the official state song.
- Baseball player Willie Howard Mays was born in Westfield in
1931.
- A skeleton of a pre-historic man was found in Russell Cave.
- At 2,405 feet Cheaha Mountain is Alabama's highest point above
sea level.
- Huntsville is known as the rocket capital of the World.
- The Alabama Department of Archives is the oldest state-funded
archival agency in the nation.
- The musical singing group Alabama has a Fan Club and Museum in Fort Payne.
- In 1902 Dr. Luther Leonidas Hill performed the first
open heart surgery in the Western Hemisphere by suturing a
stab wound in a young boy's heart. The surgery occurred in
Montgomery.
- To help fund education Alabama instituted its state
sales tax in 1937.
- Schools established in Mobile include Washington Academy
(founded in 1811) and Huntsville Green Academy (founded in
1812).
- Between 1817 and 1819 Old Saint Stephens was the first
territorial capital of Alabama.
- In 1956 the Army Ballistic Missile Agency was
established at Huntsville's Redstone Arsenal.
- Governor George C. Wallace served four terms in office.
- In 1995 Heather Whitestone serves as first Miss America
chosen with a disability.
- Alabama's geographic center is located in Chilton a
community located 12 miles southwest of Clanton.
- The word Alabama means tribal town in the Creek Indian
language.
- The United States Army Chemical Corps Museum in Fort
McClellan contains over 4000 chemical warfare artifacts.
- Hitler's typewriter survived from his mountain retreat
and is exhibited at the Hall of History in Bessemer.
- Blount County was created on February 7, 1818 and is
older than the state.
- Winston County is often called the Free State of
Winston. It gained the name during the Civil War.
- Mobile is named after the Mauvilla Indians.
- Peter Bryce is recognized as the state's first
psychiatrist. He was born in 1834 and died in 1892.
- The Alabama State Flag was authorized by the Alabama
legislature on February 16, 1895.
- Hematite is Alabama's official state mineral and is
known as oxide of iron (Fe2O3).
- The Monarch butterfly (Danaus pleipuss) is the state's
official insect.
- The star blue quartz is the state's official gemstone.
- The Florence Renaissance Faire is the Alabama's official
fair.
- The pecan is the Alabama's official nut.
- People from Alabama are called Alabamians.
- On January 11, 1861 Alabama becomes the fourth state to
secede from the Union.
- On January 28, 1846 Montgomery was selected as capital
of Alabama.
- Tallulah Bankhead entertained as a star of stage,
screen, and radio during the 1930s-1950s. She was born in
Huntsville in 1902 and died in 1968.
- Singer and entertainer Nathaniel Adams (Nat King) Cole
was known as the man with the velvet voice. He was born in
Montgomery in 1919 and died in 1965.
- Alabama resident Sequoyah devised the phonetic, written
alphabet of the Cherokee language.
- The Birmingham Airport opened in 1931. At the time of
the opening a Birmingham to Los Angeles flight took 19
hours.
- Alabama's mean elevation is 500 feet at its lowest
elevation point.
- Audemus jura nostra defendere is the official state
motto. Translated it means "we dare defend our rights."
- Washington County is the oldest county in Alabama.
- General Andrew Jackson defeated the Creek Indians in
1814. Following the event the Native Americans ceded nearly
half the present state land to the United States.
- At the Battle of Mobile Bay Admiral David Farragut issued his famous command, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." The event occurred on August 5, 1864
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