Alabama, our 22nd state, joined the United States on Dec. 14, 1819. Today, it’s the 24th largest state by population, with about 5 million people.

Alabama history

This state of the Deep South was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 8,000 years, including Cherokee and Chickasaw peoples.

In the 1500s, Spanish explorers arrived, and in 1702, the French established Old Mobile.

In January 1861, Alabama seceded, or separated, from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. About 120,000 men from Alabama fought in the Civil War.

Montgomery is the state capital, but Huntsville is the largest city, with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and other research centers headquartered there. Its oldest city, Mobile, is situated on Mobile Bay on the Gulf Coast.

Today, Alabama is known for car manufacturing, finance, tourism and aerospace industries. Agricultural products include poultry and eggs, cattle and fish, along with peanuts, cotton, grains and soybeans.

Natural Alabama

Mountains and forests cover much of the state, particularly in the north. National forests, monuments and historical sites can be found throughout Alabama.

The Gulf Coast and Mobile Bay beaches are top tourist attractions. Mobile Bay is an important port for oceangoing ships.

“Jubilees” are two-hour periods of fishy activity. Just before dawn on summer mornings, thousands of shellfish such as crabs and shrimp move so close to the shores of Mobile Bay that crowds can simply scoop up a seafood feast.

Education

The University of Alabama is the state’s largest college. Many football fans support UA’s Crimson Tide and the Auburn University Tigers.

Tuskegee University, a historically Black institution, was founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881 as the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers. George Washington Carver taught there and developed many new ways for farmers to improve their soil and grow new crops.

Famous Alabamians

• Coretta Scott King was a leader working for the rights of African Americans, women, children and the poor, as well as for peace and the spread of democracy. She grew up on a farm in Heiberger, Alabama.

After her husband, Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated in 1968, she helped start the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. The King Center helps train people throughout the world to use his nonviolent methods to make changes.

• Harper Lee was famous for her 1960 book “To Kill a Mockingbird.” It tells of a lawyer raising his two children in a small Alabama town. He defends an innocent Black man in spite of the townspeople’s prejudices. The book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961.

Lee grew up in Monroeville, Alabama. Many of the book’s characters are based on real people she grew up with.

Resources On the Web:

• bit.ly/MPAlabama

At the library:

• “Alabama” by Joanne Mattern

• “The Ghostly Tales of Alabama” by Alan N. Brown