GLCEventSpanish Explorers  Mobile BayCNotekAlonzo Alvarez de Pieda of Spain explores Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Mexico, including Mobile Bay. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.DeSoto Explores Southern USNo trace of DeSoto has ever been found in Alabama despite the fact that his army WAS there for at least six months nearly five centuries ago._http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.DeSoto Battles Chief TuscaloosaMabilaThe largest Indian battle in North America occurs at the village of Mabila (or Mauvila) between Hernando de Sotos Spaniards and Chief Tuscaloosas (or Tascaluzas) warriors. DeSoto and a force of some 600 reached the town of Maubila in southwest Alabama in October of 1540. Here, the leader of the conquistadores met Tuscaloosa. Following an exchange of gifts, a dispute arose. Although the Spaniards suffered casualties by the score, their superior weaponry, combined with their setting fire to the great village, killed thousands of Chief Tuscaloosa's people. Accounts vary, but most agree that the Indian village and most of its more than 2,000 inhabitants were destroyed. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.French SettlementMobileLe Moyne brothers, Iberville and Bienville, establish a French fort and settlement at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff; settlement and fort moved downriver to Mobile site, 1712._http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001. Code NoirLouis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre proclaimed the Code Noir, which extended from French West Indies to North American colonies, institutionalizing slavery in Mobile area. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Alabama Taken by SpainU}Spanish capture Mobile during American Revolution and retain the West and East Floridas as part of the war-ending treaty. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Alabama Claimed by the USepFt. St. StephensU.S. Army Lieutenant John McClary takes possession of Fort St. Stephens from the Spanish and the United States flag is raised for the first time on soil that would eventually belong to Alabama._http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Native Land Cessions,yzThe defeat of the Creek Indians opened the heartland of Alabama to white settlement and caused Alabama fever to sweep the nation. Pioneers by the thousands left Tennessee, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia seeking fertile land for growing cotton._http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Creek Indian WarThe war "... came to a climax the following February when Andrew Jackson and two thousand followers trapped some one thousand warriors in the horseshoe bend of the Tallapoosa River, virtually annihilated them, and broke Creek resistance."eHamilton, Virginia Van der Veer. Alabama: A Bicentennial History. New York: WW Norton, 1977. p. 151.The Treaty of Fort Jackson+The Treaty of Fort Jackson is finalized after warring Creeks, under the leadership of William Weatherford, aka Red Eagle, surrender to Gen. Andrew Jackson and cede their lands to the federal government. This event opened up half of the present state of Alabama to white settlement._http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Alabama Territory CreatedԉQCongress designated St. Stephens as capital of the Alabama Territory and approved a legislature of Alabama delegates already elected to the old Mississippi territorial legislature. William Wyatt Bibb, a Georgia physician who had served in the United States Congress and had powerful friends in Washington, was named Territorial governor.`http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Becomes a State̍1Alabama enters the Union as the 22nd state. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Alabama Gold Rushל/There is no way to confirm the exact year of discovery of gold in Alabama; however, it is accepted to have been about 1830. After the gold discoveries in Georgia in 1828, gold prospectors expanded their search for gold into Alabama. Further research of gold history as recorded in geological reports, reveals that about 1836 there was a great deal of excitement in the gold fields of Alabama. One of the early gold districts, Arbacoochee, is said to have given employment to 600 men. Most gold miners left the state to join the California Gold Rush in 1849. ^http://www.goldmaps.com/east/alabama_gold_mines.htm Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.University of AlabamaFThe University of Alabama formally opens its doors. Fifty-two students were accepted that first day. By the end of the session, the student body had swelled to nearly one hundred. The faculty was made up of four men including the Reverend Alva Woods who had been inaugurated president of the University on April 12, 1831. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.The Night Stars Fell on AlabamaIn a spectacle seen across the Southeast, a fantastic meteor shower causes this night to be known as "the night stars fell on Alabama." The shower created great excitement across the state and for years was used to date events and became part of Alabama folklore. It also became the title of a famous book and song in the 1930s. Jimmy Buffet sang "Stars Fell on Alabama" at the January 1999 inauguration of Governor Don Siegelman. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.American Civil WarlX194 military land events and 8 naval engagements occurred within the boundaries of Alabama including: Streight's Raid in north Alabama (April-May 1863); Rousseau's Raid through north and east-central Alabama (July 1864); Wilson's Raid through north and central Alabama (March-April 1865); Battle of Mobile Bay (August 1864) and the subsequent campaign which involved action at Spanish Fort (April 8, 1865) and Blakeley (April 9) before the fall of the city of Mobile (April 12). General Richard Taylor surrenders last sizable Confederate force at Citronelle, Mobile County (May 4, 1865). http://www.us-civilwar.com/ Taken from the Internet, July 3, 2001 and http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Alabama SecedeshThe Alabama Secession Convention passes an Ordinance of Secession, declaring Alabama a "Sovereign and Independent State." By a vote of 61-39, Alabama becomes the fourth state to secede from the Union._http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001. Alabama Re-admitted to the UnionReconstruction Constitution ratified (February) gaining Alabama readmission to the Union, and allowing black suffrage for the first time. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001. Helen Keller+a TuscumbiaThe story of Helen Keller is the story of a child who, at the age of 18 months, was suddenly shut off from the world, but who, against overwhelming odds, waged a slow, hard, but successful battle to reenter that same world. The inarticulate little deaf and blind girl grew into a highly intelligent and sensitive woman who wrote, spoke, and labored incessantly for the betterment of others. So powerful a symbol of triumph over adversity did she become that she has a definite place in the history of our time and of times to come.dhttp://www.afb.org/info_document_view.asp?documentid=1351 Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Tuskegee Institute EstablishedThe Alabama Legislature establishes Tuskegee Institute as a "normal school for the education of colored teachers." The law stipulated that no tuition would be charged and graduates must agree to teach for two years in Alabama schools. Booker T. Washington was chosen as the first superintendent and arrived in Alabama in June 1881. Washington's leadership would make Tuskegee one of the most famous and celebrated historic black colleges in the U.S. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001. Lynchingsds"The NAACP statistics... are particularly explicit. Of 271 victims in Alabama, 237 were black, ten of these women."dHamilton, Virginia Van der Veer. Alabama: A Bicentennial History. New York: WW Norton, 1977. p. 88. Nat King Cole\ Montgomery"The man with the velvet voice," Nathaniel Adams (Nat King) Cole dies in Santa Monica, CA. Born the son of a Baptist minister in Montgomery in 1919, Cole sold over 50 million records and became the first African-American male with a weekly network television series. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Scottsboro Case, H Scottsboro,Nine black youths were charged with raping two white women on a train.In the first trial, held in Scottsboro, eight of the nine defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death. This was overruled by the United States Supreme Court. The case was retried a number of times. Eventually, one the basis of the same evidence, four were found guilty and four were found not guilty. While the nation was preoccupied with WWI, the Alabama Pardon and Parole Board began pardonning the convicted. In 1950, the last defendant walked out of Kilby Prison a free man.gHamilton, Virginia Van der Veer. Alabama: A Bicentennial History. New York: WW Norton, 1977. p. 89-91.Rosa Parks ArrestedOvRosa Parks, a black seamstress, is arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a boarding white passenger as required by Montgomery city ordinance. Her action prompted the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott and earned her a place in history as "the mother of the modern day civil rights movement." Ms. Parks was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor in August 2000. _http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.Harper Lee Wins Pulitzer PrizeW MonroevilleHarper Lee wins the Pulitzer Prize for To Kill A Mockingbird, her first, and only, novel. The gripping tale set in 1930s Alabama became an international bestseller and was made into a major Hollywood motion picture starring Gregory Peck_http://www.archives.state.al.us/timeline/timefr.html Taken from the Internet, August 10, 2001.