{"id":891,"date":"2013-08-10T22:04:31","date_gmt":"2013-08-10T22:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.populationfun.com\/?p=891"},"modified":"2018-12-19T16:46:33","modified_gmt":"2018-12-19T16:46:33","slug":"alabama-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.populationfun.com\/alabama-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Alabama, \u201cThe Heart of Dixie,\u201d\u00a0is a\u00a0state\u00a0located in the\u00a0southeastern region\u00a0of the United States, bordering the\u00a0Gulf of Mexico\u00a0to the south. From the\u00a0American Civil War\u00a0until\u00a0World War II, Alabama suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture.\u00a0 Following World War II, Alabama experienced growth as the economy of the state transitioned to one with diversified interests. The establishment AND expansion of multiple United States Armed Forces\u00a0installations added to the state economy and helped bridge the gap between an agricultural and\u00a0industrial economy.<\/p>\n

Alabama is unofficially nicknamed the\u00a0Yellowhammer\u00a0State, after the\u00a0state bird. Alabama is also known as the “Heart of Dixie”. The\u00a0state tree\u00a0is the\u00a0Longleaf Pine, the\u00a0flower\u00a0is the\u00a0Camellia. The capital of Alabama is\u00a0Montgomery. The largest city by population is\u00a0Birmingham.\u00a0The largest city by total land area is\u00a0Huntsville. The oldest city is\u00a0Mobile<\/a>, founded by French\u00a0colonists. \u00a0The total population of the state based on the latest census, is 4,822,023. The 2015 population of Alabama is not precisely known, nor is there a projection for 2016.<\/p>\n

Geography and Climate<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Alabama is the thirtieth-largest state in the United States with 52,419\u00a0square miles of total area. It is also the 23rd in the amount of surface water, with 3.2% of the surface area being water.\u00a0 Alabama contains the second-largest inland waterway system in the US.\u00a0About three-fifths of the land area is a gentle plain with a general descent towards the\u00a0Mississippi River\u00a0and the\u00a0Gulf of Mexico. Alabama ranges in elevation from sea level\u00a0to over 1,800\u00a0feet in the\u00a0Appalachian Mountains<\/a>.\u00a0 The highest point is\u00a0Mount Cheaha,\u00a0at a height of 2,413\u00a0ft.\u00a0 \u00a0Alabama’s land consists of 22 million acres of forest.<\/p>\n

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The Natural Bridge<\/p><\/div>\n

Alabama’s climate is humid subtropical with an average annual temperature of 64\u00b0F.\u00a0 Temperatures tend to be warmer in the southern part of the state, while the northern parts of the state tend to be slightly cooler.\u00a0Summer in Alabama notoriously hot, with high temperatures averaging over\u00a090 \u00b0F.\u00a0 Alabama is also prone to\u00a0tropical storms\u00a0and hurricanes. South Alabama reports many\u00a0thunderstorms. The Gulf Coast averages between 70 and 80 days per year with thunder reported. This activity decreases somewhat further north in the state, but even the far north of the state reports thunder on about 60\u00a0days per year. Occasionally, thunderstorms are severe with frequent\u00a0lightning\u00a0and large\u00a0hail. Alabama ranks seventh in the number of deaths from lightning and ninth in the number of deaths from lightning strikes per capita.<\/p>\n

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\"April<\/a>

April 2011 Tornado Outbreak<\/p><\/div>\n

The peak season for tornadoes varies from the northern to southern parts of the state. Alabama is one of the few places in the world that has a secondary tornado season in November and December, along with the spring severe weather season. The northern part of the state is one of the areas in the U.S. most vulnerable to violent tornadoes.<\/p>\n

Winters are generally mild in Alabama, with average January low temperatures around\u00a040 \u00b0F\u00a0in Mobile and around\u00a032 \u00b0F\u00a0in Birmingham. Although snow is a rare event in much of Alabama, northern areas of the may receive a dusting of snow a few times every winter. Alabama’s highest temperature of\u00a0112 \u00b0F\u00a0was recorded on September 5, 1925 in\u00a0Centerville. The record low of\u00a0\u221227 \u00b0F\u00a0occurred on January 30, 1966 in\u00a0New Market.<\/p>\n

Basic History of Alabama<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"THE<\/a>Indigenous peoples\u00a0of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before European colonization, and among the historical tribes of Native American people living in the area of present-day Alabama at the time of European contact were\u00a0Iroquoian-speaking\u00a0Cherokee, and the\u00a0Muskogean-speaking\u00a0Alabama\u00a0(Alibamu<\/i>), Chickasaw,\u00a0Choctaw,\u00a0Creek, and\u00a0Koasati.\u00a0 Most Native American tribes were\u00a0completely removed\u00a0from the state within a few years of the passage of the\u00a0Indian Removal Act<\/a>\u00a0by Congress in 1830.<\/p>\n

The French founded the first European settlement in the region at\u00a0Old Mobile, in 1702.\u00a0The city was moved to the current site of\u00a0Mobile\u00a0in 1711. Most of what is now the northern two-thirds of Alabama was known as the\u00a0Yazoo lands\u00a0beginning during the British colonial period. It was claimed by the\u00a0Province of Georgia\u00a0from 1767 onwards.\u00a0 What is now the lower one-third Alabama was made part of the\u00a0Mississippi Territory\u00a0upon its creation in 1798. The Yazoo lands were added to the territory in 1804.<\/p>\n

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The Alabama Territory was created by the United States Congress\u00a0on March 3, 1817.\u00a0On January 30, 1846, the Alabama legislature announced the new state capitol,\u00a0Montgomery, after several other cities had served this purpose. By 1860 the population had increased to a total of 964,201 people, of which 435,080 were enslaved\u00a0African Americans\u00a0and 2,690 were\u00a0free people of color. Alabama was under military rule from the end of the war in May 1865 when it slaves were freed under the 13th amendment until its official restoration to the Union in 1868. From 1867 to 1874, with most White citizens barred from voting, many African Americans emerged as political leaders in the state.<\/p>\n

On January 11, 1861, Alabama declared its\u00a0secession\u00a0from the\u00a0Union. After remaining an independent republic for a few days, it joined the\u00a0Confederate States of America. The Confederacy’s capital was initially located at Montgomery<\/a>. Alabama was heavily\u00a0involved in the American Civil War. During\u00a0Reconstruction, state legislators ratified a\u00a0new state constitution\u00a0in 1868 that created a public school system for the first time and expanded women’s rights. Legislators funded numerous public road and railroad projects.\u00a0Organized resistance groups also tried to suppress the freedmen and Republicans.\u00a0 These included the Pale Faces,\u00a0Knights of the White Camellia,\u00a0Red Shirts, Ku Klux Klan, and the\u00a0White League.<\/p>\n

Reconstruction in Alabama ended in 1874, when the Democrats regained control of the legislature and governor’s office. They wrote another constitution in 1875, and the legislature passed the\u00a0Blaine Amendment, prohibiting public money from being used to finance religious affiliated schools.<\/p>\n

\"Mt<\/a>In 1900, Alabama had more than 181,000 African Americans eligible to vote. By 1941, more White Alabamians than African American Alabamians had been disfranchised: 600,000 Whites to 520,000 African Americans.Nearly all African Americans had lost the ability to vote. \u00a0The 1901 constitution reiterated that schools be racially segregated. It also restated that interracial marriage was illegal, although it had already been against the law since 1867. Further racial segregation laws were passed into the 1950s. The\u00a0Rosenwald Fund\u00a0began funding the building of what came to be known as\u00a0Rosenwald Schools for African American education. A total of 387 schools, seven teacher’s houses, and several vocational buildings had been completed in the state by 1937. Several of the\u00a0surviving school buildings\u00a0in the state are now listed on the\u00a0National Register of Historic Places<\/a>.
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Tens of thousands of African Americans left Alabama in the early 20th\u00a0century as part of the\u00a0Great Migration\u00a0to industrial jobs and better futures in northern industrial cities. Reflecting this emigrations, the population growth rate in Alabama \u00a0dropped by nearly half from 1910 to 1920. \u00a0At the same time, many rural people moved to\u00a0Birmingham\u00a0to work in new industrial jobs. Birmingham experienced such rapid growth that it was called “The Magic City”. By the 1920s, Birmingham<\/a> was the 19th largest city in the United States and had more than 30% of the Alabama’s population. \u00a0Between 1940 and 1943, more than 89,000 people moved into the city to work for war effort industries.\u00a0Cotton and other cash crops faded in importance as the state developed a manufacturing and service base.<\/p>\n

Although efforts had already started decades earlier, African Americans began to more actively\"Selma<\/a> attempt to end the disfranchisement and segregation in the state during the 1950s and 1960s with the\u00a0Civil Rights Movement. These efforts directly led to the enactment of the\u00a0Civil Rights Act of 1964\u00a0and\u00a0Voting Rights Act of 1965\u00a0by the U.S. Congress. During the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans achieved a protection of voting and other civil rights through the passage of the national\u00a0Civil Rights Act of 1964,and the\u00a0Voting Rights Act of 1965. Legal segregation ended in the states as\u00a0Jim Crow laws\u00a0were invalidated or repealed.<\/p>\n