Interesting facts about Alabama

April 1, 2012 | In: City Facts

Alabama is situated in the south- east of the United States, in the Golf of Mexico. The capital city is of Alabama is Montgomery. The State of Alabama was admitted in the Union rather late, in December 1819. Many Americans know the state by the nickname of Yellowhammer State(because of the yellow cloth on Confederate soldiers uniform), or The Heart of Dixie. The state motto is “We dare defend out rights”, from the latin “Audemus jura nostra defendere”. The name of the state comes from a tribe of the Creek Indian nation.

In terms of surface, Alabama is the 30^th state in the USA, with 52,423 square miles(84,367 km).

The city of Huntsville is home to the first NASA Space Camp, The U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, opened in 1982.

The hottest day in Alabama was recorded on September 5^th, 1925, and it was 112 degrees Fahrenheit(44 degrees Celsius).

The first electric street car in the world ran down Dexter Avenue in Montgomery.

Alabama is boarded by 4 states: Tennessee to the North, Florida to the South, Georgia to the East and Mississippi to the West.

The first capital of the Confederate States of America was Montgomery, but it was moved to Richmond, Virginia, on the 24^th of may, 1861.

After the Civil War, Alabama and other former Confederate states entered the era of Reconstruction (1865-1877), a period during which the Southern states were reorganized. Alabama was readmitted to the Union in 1868. After Reconstruction ended, most of the Deep South instituted laws, which strictly segregated blacks and whites. Some activists struggled to address the needs of oppressed African Americans, among them educator Booker T. Washington (c.1856-1915), who was born into slavery and went on to become the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute (later Tuskegee University) in Tuskegee, Alabama. Established in 1881, the Tuskegee Institute trained black teachers and offered instruction in other occupational skills.